Joshua 3:8 – “And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”
We join together at the passing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The mantle of leadership has been passed from Moses to Joshua, and God wants the Israelites to know that Joshua is His chosen leader. It is time for the people to stop looking at their own strength and depend completely upon the Lord. The people are commanded by God to follow the Ark of the Covenant (which is the presence of God) wherever He takes them.
The Levites carry the Ark of the Covenant in front of the Israelites straight to the waters of the Jordan River. The priests are only given one command, “when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.” (3:8) What will soon take place is a mighty act of God. Remember the call of Joshua to the people earlier. “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wanders among you.” Here is the wonder! God causes the water of the overflowing Jordan to stand up and make a path of dry ground, the same magnificent miracle at the Red Sea for the prior generation.
The command to stand still is what captures my attention today. How many times in our days, weeks and months, do we think everything depends on us and what we can do? We spend large amounts of time trying to fix and maneuver situations in our life. The result is we get burned out, and we are confused why things are not working out the way we think they should. But that is just the problem. We are trying to do things with our own might and our own strength, and it is all about us. Why do we do this when we have the power of God in us? Why do we settle for our strength when God’s power is present? Why do we look so much to what we can do when God tells us to stand still and watch Him work in our lives? Does this mean that we are supposed to just do nothing and expect God to deliver in our laziness? NO! But what it does mean is that we are depending too much on ourselves and not on Him. Let God reveal Himself to you in your situation. Let God act for you. Let God show Himself in a mighty way so that you can make much of Him for all the world to see!
