Ever been in a situation that seems just too big, too deep, too loud and basically moving way too fast that you feel it is impossible to cross or get through?   You begin to look for alternatives to get to the other side, but frankly there aren’t any. You might as well just take a seat and watch life just float on by (Metaphorically speaking of course). I’d like to share what it’s like to be at the water’s edge and have God deliver us–across.

We begin our journey in Joshua chapter 3. Brief summary of where we are on God’s timeline: Moses has brought the Israelites out of Egypt and out of slavery. They are heading for the Promise Land, their inheritance, a place to call their own. Due to MANY circumstances (which could not be contained in this article) they wander for 40 years. Following Moses’ death, Joshua, who now holds the reins of leadership, prepares the people to cross the Jordan River into the Land. Can you imagine with me what it was like for Joshua as he opened Moses’ will, “To Jeped I leave my sandals, to Eliazer my cloak, and to Joshua–THEM. The thousands, those who complain, the dusty ones. May Jehovah have mercy on your soul!” (TOTALLY kidding)

We pick the story up: Their tents pitched on the river’s edge. They could see it, after all these years, THERE it was! HOWEVER, the river stood between them and their inheritance. The river is at flood stage. They were SO close! Oh great, we get here, and this is what we find, it is bigger, wider, faster and deeper than expected.

Joshua summons the people: “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the LORD will do AMAZING things among you” (v.5 emphasis mine). Looking at the flooded river, yep amazing is what it is going to take! I love this amazing. We find it in another known story, Genesis 18:14, where God tells Abe and Sarah that in their old age they will have a son and remember Sarah laughs (who wouldn’t!) God says, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Too hard, it is the same ‘amazing‘ (in Hebrew) as in Joshua. Is anything too amazing for God–too hard for HIM?

The river is RAGING. Joshua has the priests carry the ark of the covenant, God’s represented presence on their shoulders. “When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s water, go and stand in the river” (v.8). Just stand. Verse 15, “Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from up-stream stopped flowing.” Go God! As they walked to the middle of the river, they stood firm on dry ground.  Twelve men were chosen to gather a stone from the middle of the river and take it to the other side, building an altar. Being symbolic of God’s deliverance–at the river. The rest of the folks entered, passed through and to the other side.

What a wonderful lesson and principle for us. Regardless of what brought the Israelites to this point, they stepped in, passed by, the priests stayed right there in the middle of the river, until all were safe. God’s presence staying in the middle of OUR circumstance until we are safely on the other side. Just as with the Israelites, we won’t experience God until the first dipped toe.

Coming to the river requires a decision. There is most often a tendency to hover near the water’s edge. Like with Israel, it also is a meeting place with God, a place of dedication, devotion and purpose. But we are NEVER to stay there. Reminder, the land has already been spied out, no need to wait for recon reports, you are GOOD to go! Our inheritance (joy, freedom, assurance, security, love), awaits us on the other side. Our options? GO or stay and just watch the water go by or turn back–into the desert, wander some more, even go back into captivity.

Us, “Too hard!” God–AMAZING! Jesus says in Luke 18:27 “What is impossible with men, is possible with God.” God takes the ‘im’ in impossible and turns it into ‘I AM’.

God crosses with us, stays with us and delivers us.

We do as the 12 leaders did, we take something from the river as a reminder and build in our heart as an altar before God, HERE and now YOU preserved me, YOU brought me through, YOUR presence stayed there in the middle of it all–to see me (not only on) but to the other side!

Delivering water needs to be crossed. God with us, God in us, God delivering us from what we deem impossible.

At the river’s edge.

In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love & good deeds.” – Hebrew 10:24)

(Side Note) I spoke this a few years ago at a women’s retreat, in the middle of the aisle I had a treasure chest full of stones. I felt God wanted us as women to identify our river. We, standing on one side, and NEEDING to cross over into what God wanted for us. The gals were encouraged to take a stone and write on it (pen provided) what was ‘too hard’, what they wanted–NEEDED from God. There was a boatload of crossing over that day.

In my quiet time I have been reading through the book of Galatians. I am fascinated of Pauls telling of his encounter with Jesus. Paul, zealous in the traditions of his forefathers, advancing ahead of his colleagues, and once a persecutor of the Christians. Then dramatically calls it like it is “But when God” (Galatians 1:15, NIV) —everything changed. Don’t you just love it! We all need a “but when God” in our life!  He goes on to say God called him by His grace and revealed His Son to him (v16).

When Jesus presented Himself to Paul (remember the bright blinding light). He knocked Paul on his backside and was appealing first to His senses. He had to get Paul’s attention!  Paul was a highly educated man, a thinking man. Perhaps God was getting past his head so he could not attempt to rationalize the encounter, (thus three days of blindness).  The verse goes on to say, this revelation—all was done ultimately “so that” he might preach Him. (See Galatians 1:11-16 and Acts 9).

I appreciate that the Word of God is so practical. The phrase “so that” (used 80x in the NKJV) not only gives us a connecting clause but also is powerful and insightful—this is why.  Not that God needs a reason, but graciously and divinely, the writers included it and the Holy Spirit breathes understanding through it.  

• “Walk in the ways of the LORD your God so that you may live and prosper” (Deut. 5:33). 
•  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16,17). 
• Paul prays “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better” (Ephesians 1:17). 
• “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). 
• “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11).
• “Pray for us (Paul & crew) that God may open a door for our message “so that” we may proclaim the mystery of Christ (Col 4:3)

May we spot the “so that’s” in scripture, aware there is a reason, and the reason is intended to be known. May we also see the “so that” in everyday life. Being mindful of moments (i.e.) realizing perhaps a delay was divinely designed “so that” we were able to see God move, or God move through us. Or, the slow tractor on the road is a blessing, so that I may avoid an accident up the road a bit.

Noting too, like Paul, God may find the need to get our attention and knock us on our backside, (He has me a couple-three times and expect there will be more). When He does, let’s look for the reason, “So that ______________________” (you and Holy Spirit fill in the blank).

The graciousness of God, “This is why.”

In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love & good deeds” – Hebrews 10:24).

There is a story of a farmer that had an icehouse. During the winter he and his workers would cut ice blocks from the nearby pond and then place them on a bed of sawdust in the icehouse, covering the blocks with more sawdust. At one point the farmer noticed he lost his beloved pocket watch in all his work. He and his workers went in frantically raking through the sawdust, moving ice blocks to find the watch, but to no avail—it was not found. The farmer’s son, about age ten, heard of the situation. While the workers were out on another project, he slipped into the icehouse and after a little time he came out with the watch in hand giving it to his father. The father was so excited, he asked, “How did you find it?” The boy answered, “I laid down in the sawdust, laying there quietly. I just listened.”

What a beautiful example of purposeful positioning WITH expectation. King David penned. “In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice; I lay my request before you and wait in expectation” (Psalm 5:3, NIV). David didn’t sit there filling the conversation. He leaned in, leaned forward in eagerness, expecting God’s response. He knew if he was quiet enough, patient and waited, like the little boy—he would hear Him.

How often do we too go looking for God, yet noisily, raking around, turning things over. Or we jet off into our day, not even waiting for a response, when indeed God wants us to hear Him. What would expectant positioning look like for us?  For you?

Maybe God is waiting for us like He was Moses. Exodus 3, Moses is out tending to the sheep when he sees a bush on fire. It wasn’t until Moses gave his full stop and attention, positioning himself at the bush that God spoke: “When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” (v 4) Moses doesn’t say anything. In his quiet, he takes his sandals off and listens.

For some of us, showing up is our first step. May we too be purposeful, attentive, full stop, eagerly waiting—quietly. 

Sawdust listening.

In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love & good deeds.” – Hebrews 10:24)

Remember back and for some of us WAAAAY back, when we were in the 4th or 5th grade. Out on the playground we would divide up into teams for a ball game. That had to be some of the most frustrating moments of childhood. Nervous thoughts of “Will I be picked?” Or remember when the list was posted for those making the team following tryouts? We stood a slight distance away, yet just close enough to see if our name was there, but not too close to being faced with rejection by our name’s absence.

Making the list. Go ahead admit it, we all want to be wanted, picked and deemed valuable! We all have areas of our life where we fall short, lack the skill or just can’t seem to get it right. In these, we begin to see ourselves as less valuable than others. Perhaps even become resentful, envious of those who do seem to have it all together. (They really don’t by the way).

Ever notice that we may take these perspectives, or might I say insecurities into our relationship with God?  Often, we may find our head bowed, not necessarily in reverence, but out of frustration.  Words painfully escape our whispering lips, “Will You, can You … use … ME!”  Then continue to list all our shortcomings, these becoming our excuses and before we know it, we are telling God why He shouldn’t want us.

In short, dear friends, have we ever considered the ‘list’ that God compiled? The list of Biblical proportion. These folks did stupid things, (STUPID). Made BIG mistakes, when told to do something God’s way, they chose the DIY and ran.  Some were too small, too old, too ugly and too worrisome.

Eve listened to the Devil *Rahab was a prostitute *Adam blame shifted *Jeremiah and Timothy were too young *David had an affair and was a murderer *Abraham was too old *Elijah was suicidal *Isaac was a daydreamer *Isaiah preached naked (oops) *Jacob was a liar *Jonah ran from God *Leah was ugly *Naomi was a widow *Joseph was abused *Job went bankrupt *Moses stuttered *John the Baptist ate bugs *Aaron watched the idol-making *Peter denied Christ *Gideon was afraid *The Disciples fell asleep while praying *Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer *Martha worried about everything *The Samaritan woman was divorced, (more than once) *Zacchaeus was too small *Paul was too religious AND Lazarus was dead!  DEAD I tell you!

Here it comes … (Wait for it) … HOWEVER. God used ALL these people! They were part of His plan. They all had weaknesses of some sort. Do you find yourself among this list?  Do you worry, then beat yourself up for lack of faith? Do you fall asleep when you pray, then believe the lie you don’t love God enough?

God moved in and through these people’s lives. Aren’t you glad God didn’t hide the background history from these folks?  God is the Redeemer of our soul, life and YES mistakes, failures, and shortcomings. Have you been divorced, afraid, abused, bankrupted or drunk or eat weird things.  And let’s face it, said things before your brain was engaged? (Yay Peter). God is God. He compiles the List!  YOU made the list, the list of redeemed mankind. (Group hug!)

Because of Jesus, YOU are sons & daughters of the Most High God! YOU are valuable! YOU are loved! YOU made the List!  HIS list!  Regardless.

Big plans for YOU!

In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love & good deeds” – Hebrews 10:24)