THE WATER’S EDGE
JOSHUA 3:1-17
INTRODUCTION
“Don’t know which way to go,”
“the way seems blocked”
“on the edge of something”
READ JOSHUA 3:1-17
“Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it." 5 Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you." 6 Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they took it up and went ahead of them. 7 And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: 'When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river.'" 9 Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD-- the Lord of all the earth-- set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap." 14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”
As I was thinking and praying on this passage from Joshua 3, three phrases popped in my head and caught my heart’s attention as I was reading. The three phrases are: “Don’t know which way to go,” “the way seems blocked,” and “on the edge of something.” Let’s talk about these three phrases and see where they lead us.
DON’T KNOW WHICH WAY TO GO
ILLUSTRATION…Alice in Wonderland, ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/carroll/lewis/alice/chapter6.html
In Lewis Carroll’s classic fantasy story from 1865 “Alice in Wonderland,” Alice falls through a rabbit hole and enters a world with strange creatures and has quite an adventure. Alice, in her travels, has just put down the baby she was carrying which ended up being a pig. She set the pig down and was wandering about and met a character which is most famous from the Alice in Wonderland story… the Cheshire Cat.
She [Alice] was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off. The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.
‘Cheshire Cat,’ she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. ‘It’s pleased so far,’ thought Alice, and she went on. ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where —’ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
‘— so long as I get somewhere,’ Alice added as an explanation.
‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, ‘if you only walk long enough.’
You see in this classic children’s story, Lewis Carroll gives us a little philosophy as he entertains children. Alice was lost and just wanted out of where she was. She didn’t know which way to go and just wanted to end up somewhere. When you don’t know which way to go, any direction is just fine. One decision is just as good as another. Left leads to a destination as does right. The cat rightly tells Alice that if you walk long enough you will end up somewhere.
ILLUSTRATION… Driving Around Belgium (p)
Back in 1994, some of you might remember back to that year, I was a junior in high school and my dad was stationed at an Army base in Germany. I played football my junior and senior year. Schools on Army bases and Air Force bases play each other in sports. It was our turn to play AFCENT which is the NATO command base in the Netherlands. At least it was, I think it has a different name now. The drive was only 3 hours between the bases and so my family made the trip for this away game. As I remember it, I rode up with the team and rode back with my parents.
I remember the ride home from that game very well. We headed south out of the Netherlands through Belgium and were trying to get back into Germany. It was supposed to be a 3 hour trip. I remember one thing about Belgium. There are no road signs. There are also so street lights. Well, I should say there were no road signs or street lights wherever we were… we were lost in the countryside of Belgium for several hours because it took us more like 5 to 6 hours to get back home. With the magic of technology and Google maps, I took a guess and here is a picture of the road I believe we were on in Belgium. [show picture] Notice… no signs. No lights. Nothing. I even moved the Google map up and down the road. No signs. No lights. No directional signals of any kind anywhere on this road. I remember my dad saying, something like, well, we’ll head southeast and eventually we’ll hit Germany. We drove and drove and did not know which way to go.
REFLECTION ON JOSHUA 3: DON’T KNOW WHICH WAY TO GO
The Book of Joshua in the Old Testament opens with the aftermath of the death of Moses. God comes to Joshua, the next leader of the Israelites, and promises that He will be with him (Joshua 1:5). God commands Joshua several times in the first chapter to be “strong and courageous” (1:6, 7, 9). Joshua would need to be both strong and courageous for what God was about to do through him. God gives Joshua marching orders to enter into the Promised Land and take it (1:13-18). Chapter 2 tells us Joshua, an able military commander, sent out spies to check out where they were headed. Joshua 2:23-24 tells us, “Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them. 24 They said to Joshua, "The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”
Then we have chapter 3 which is what we read this morning. Chapter 3 is the beginning of the march of the Israelites into the Promised Land. How many people in the Israelite camp had been where they were going? How many Israelites knew the way to Jericho which was their first stop? Two. 0.0002% of the Israelites knew which way to go (based on estimate of 1 million Israelites). The land was new. The landmarks were unfamiliar. The dangers were unknown. The roads were strange.
Key Question: What are we supposed to do when we don’t know which way to go?
THE WAY SEEMS BLOCKED
ILLUSTRATION/THOUGHTS… When God Closes a Door, adapted from adammclane.com/2010/08/31/ myth-god-opens-and-closes-doors/
As Christians, we have some sayings that we think are helpful, but really are not. Sometimes we even think that these witty sayings are from the Bible. For example, saying to a parent who has lost a child, “God needed another angel in Heaven” is neither from the Bible nor is it helpful nor is it even true and is quite hurtful. Most of the dumbest things end up on bumper stickers or are sold in Christian bookstores as posters. One of the worst Christian sayings is… “When God closes a door, He always opens a window.” We also might say, “God has opened the door for me to [blank]” or “I was pursuing something I really felt called to, but God closed the door.”
The idea that God opens and closes doors of opportunity is a dangerous way to think and live life. It can be based on a philosophy called “fatalism.” I think sometimes this little phrase about “open and closed doors” leads people to falsely blame God for missed opportunities. It also makes us wrongly quit things by saying, “Oh gee, God closed a door” when in fact we were fickle and just couldn’t endure and we wanted to quit and wrongly pin things on God. We put this life philosophy of open and closed doors above Biblical concepts like perseverance, patience, long-suffering, and even personal responsibility. Many times we have the mentality that if God wants me to do it, then God will open doors. If God doesn’t want me to do it, God will close doors. That simply isn’t how God works.
It is not the way the Bible presents God working with His people, through His people, and for His people:
* Exodus 7-12: Pharaoh kept refusing to release the Israelites while Egypt was enduring plague after plague from God. 9 times Pharaoh said no. Were those 9 closed doors from God?
* Joshua 6-7: All of the doors were literally tightly shut up in Jericho, but that did not stop God’s people from taking action and completely taking the city. Later, the people lost a battle to Ai, was that God shutting the door to them being in the Promised Land?
* 1 Samuel 18-30: David is anointed the next king of Israel. King Saul throws a spear at him and chases him away. Did David tell his friends, followers, or even himself, “Yeah, I was anointed as the next king, I don’t know though. Clearly, Saul doesn’t like me so I think God is closing that door?”
* Daniel 3: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had an open door to a fiery furnace. But that didn’t stop them from following God, did it?
* Jonah 1: I don’t think God cared too much about Jonah’s “closing the door” on going to Nineveh. God made him go anyway.
We find in the Bible that God does work in us and through us when we persevere, when we are patient in affliction, when we are long-suffering for doing right.
God rewards the righteous who walk in His ways.
God smiles on those who seek justice for the oppressed.
God hears and answers prayer.
God wants us to seek wise-council from Him.
God can move literal and figurative mountains for the faithful.
God calls us and asks us to depend on Him and Him alone.
When God asks us to do something, open and closed doors are meaningless.
THOUGHTS ON 2 CORINTHIANS 11:23-28
There is a section of Scripture where the Apostle Paul shares with the Corinthians and with us all of the obstacles he faced in sharing the Gospel. These were all ways in which his way seemed blocked. He says in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28: “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” The Apostle Paul did not consider prison, floggings, shipwrecks, stoning, or hunger as closed doors or reasons to quit. We get a hang nail and we think God is sending us in another direction.
REFLECTION ON JOSHUA 3: THE WAY SEEMS BLOCKED
As we continue to think about Joshua 3, the people are camped near the Jordan River and they notice that there is something blocking their way. The river that is between them and the Promised Land is usually a small river. In fact, in some places the Jordan River is more like a babbling brook. Yet, these verses tell us that the Israelites were entering the Promised Land at a time of the year when the Jordan was at flood stage. This means lots of water, fast moving water, and danger for animals and children and older people. This means unpredictability on the ground on the banks of the river as well as unforeseen danger in the river. The river blocked them and blocked them well.
Today we have bridges and vehicles and modern technology, but for most of history, rivers and mountains and other natural barriers were indeed just that… barriers. Rivers sometimes meant turning around and finding another way. And yet, for the people of God, they were led to this spot with the flooding Jordan River in front of them and it blocked their entrance into the Promised Land.
Key Question: What are we supposed to do when the way seems blocked?
ON THE EDGE OF SOMETHING
ILLUSTRATION… Edge of the Platform (p)
When I was a kid, I remember going swimming at a place that was quite unique. The public pool was both indoor and outdoor. You could swim inside in the pool and then if you so chose; you could make your way to a pathway that led outside to another part of the complex. Outside there were slides and all sorts of fun things to do. If I remember right, our family went to this pool in winter… in fact… it was snowing outside.
I remember two things about this particular pool experience. I remember swimming from the inside to the outside in the snow! I remember swimming outside where the water was warm and the temperature was cold. Snow was falling on my head as I swam outside. I don’t think I stayed outside long, but swam back inside where the air was warm and I wouldn’t get pneumonia… a memory I am sure comes from something my mother said. The other thing about this pool I remember was the platform. By platform I do not mean a tall diving board, but rather a platform for diving which seemed at the time to be miles high in the sky. Tall. White. I remember walking up to the edge of the platform and my toes sticking out over the edge. It was a long way down. I was on the edge of having a great adventure and all I had to do was jump into the air and fall like 10 miles into the pool.
I remember jumping over the edge of the platform and plunging into the water feet first. In order to leap over the edge, it took two things in my little kid brain. First, it took courage. Looking over the edge and seeing nothing but water below you is scary for a kid. Not only that, there is a line behind you with others waiting to take the plunge as well. Going backwards did not seem like an option. Second, it took a decision. I made the decision to climb the ladder. I made the decision to walk to the edge. I made the decision to leap off into the air and into the water.
THOUGHTS ON MATTHEW 9:20-22 // LUKE 8:43-48
There is a story told in the Gospel of Matthew (9) and Luke (8) about a woman who was subject to bleeding for 12 years. The verses tell us that no one could heal her and she was suffering. She saw Jesus and thought to herself that if she could just touch his cloak that she would be healed (Matthew 9:21). The scene is one of many crowds and lots of people pressing in. I imagine people kneeling, standing, and falling over themselves to get a glimpse of Jesus of Nazareth. Then Jesus walks by and she has an opportunity. She sees the edge of His cloak. He’s passing by. She reaches out her hand.
Does she grab it? Does she grab the edge of His cloak and seize the opportunity to be healed? Matthew and Luke tell us that she indeed grabs the edge of Hs cloak and “immediately her bleeding stopped” (Luke 8:44). Jesus addresses her and tells her "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace" (Luke 8:48). All I can see is this woman looking at the edge of this cloak and wishing and hoping and having faith and striking out to grab the edge of His cloak. A miracle happened as a result.
REFLECTION ON JOSHUA 3: ON THE EDGE OF SOMETHING
In Joshua 3, the miracle that occurred was meant to remind the people of what happened at the Red Sea nearly 40 years before (Exodus 14). 40 years before the people of God walked on dry ground and crossed the Red Sea as they followed Moses out of Egypt. God promises Joshua (verse 7) that He will show the people that His presence is with Joshua just like it was with Moses. What better way than to repeat a miracle! It was no accident all the people were gathered. It was no accident that the river was at flood stage. It was no accident there was danger and the people could not cross.
Verses 15-16 tells us that “as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing.” The water’s edge was quite significant. This meant that the priests had to have faith and courage and obedience to march up to the fast flowing river. They had to not just stand there, but the verse says as soon as their feet touched the water’s edge the river stopped flowing. It was not until they fully obeyed God that the power of God enacted the miracle.
Key Question: What are we supposed to do when we are standing on the edge?
CHALLENGE
Key Question: What are we supposed to do when we don’t know which way to go?
Life is absolutely full of choice after choice:
Every relationship we have presents us with how to treat others. Do we forgive or hold a grudge? Do we invite them to holiday dinner or leave them out? Do we allow this person back into our lives or keep them at a distance? Do we continue in the marriage or give up?
Every sin we commit gives us a choice to remain in it or repent. Do we keep saying the same curse words or do we change? Do we keep getting envious of others? Is our anger getting the best of us? Are we content with what we have or has greed got us?
Moral dilemmas are becoming more frequent as our culture becomes more anti-God and immoral. How do we treat the same sex couple that moves in across the street? How do we talk to the employee we know is adding time to their time card inappropriately?
When we don’t know which way to go when faced with a choice, follow God every single time and you will not make an error. How do you know what God would do? That’s found in the Bible. Read it. Study it. Know it.
Key Question: What are we supposed to do when the way seems blocked?
Life is absolutely full of opportunities that come and go. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. People die and we are left with obstacles. A marriage ends and our choices seem to close in around us. Life is not smooth sailing and issues will come up.
When we don’t know what to do because it seems like every decision we make is bad or every opportunity that could be there… isn’t, we must follow God and remain faithful to what He has shown us to be good and right. We are to be the righteous one in the midst of the muck. How do you know what God would do? That’s found in the Bible. Read it. Study it. Know it.
Key Question: What are we supposed to do when we are standing on the edge?
The edge is job change. The edge is starting a business. The edge is beginning high school or college for the first time. The edge is living life with a spouse for the first time. The edge is living life without your spouse for the first time. The edge is a surgery you never thought you’d have. The edge is getting a bill in the mail you know you can’t pay. The edge is scary and dangerous and fearful. Life is full of edges.
When we don’t know what to do because we are standing on the edge, we must have courage and make the decision to follow God. How do you know what God would do? That’s found in the Bible. Read it. Study it. Know it.
The people of Israel give us a glimpse into life when we don’t know which way to go, all our ways are blocked, or we are standing on the edge. Every single time this happens as people of faith we must have faith and follow God’s path laid out for us. When we stay on the path, He will lead us through. Every. Single. Time.
CONCLUSION
