Joshua 3 goes on to tell us something that is echoed throughout Scripture: What is impossible with men is possible with God. Churches can feel that way too, stalemated by the promise of something great with God, but blocked by all kinds of barriers.īut with God can turn a "no way" into a highway! The great question that loomed over the camp of Israel and over our lives today is, "Will we walk by sight or by faith? Do we really believe God can handle the impossible?" We read about the abundant life, but can't make it out of the wilderness. Our lives feel stalled, stuck on the wrong side of God's promises. So many of us face "personal Jordans" that feel so permanent and powerful that we don't even try to make it across. It's easy for us to relate to the emotions and thoughts of Israel. You could hear the doubts over night fires: "Maybe the strong among us can brave this flood, but how can we cross with infants, with the sickly, with the aged, not to mention all our possessions strapped to wagons?" An insistent "no" began to form in their hearts as they listened to the roar of the water. The waiting pounded reality into every Israelite. The Bible tells us that they spent the next three days right there, the passing torrent eroding all confidence. This was the sight that greeted the multiple hundreds of thousands that pitched their tents alongside the river. The Jordan has swelled its banks, spreading about a mile across, ranging in depth from 3 feet to 12 feet, all covering thick undergrowth that could easily trip someone up and cast them into an overwhelming current. One writer said, "it was not the river so much as the jungle that was difficult to cross." Jeremiah the prophet mentions the thickets of Jordan (Jeremiah 12:5). What is more, the plain that surrounds this river was packed with tangled brush and dense growth. Currents can reach up to 40-miles an hour when the Jordan floods. The gentle Jordan was now a raging river, swelled to flood stage. 15 that gives us the picture: Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. The Jordan was defiantly uncrossable! There's a simple sentence in v. We will come again to the place where our forefathers blew it only this time, we will obey!"īut as they approached the famous river that formed a barrier between them and their longed-for real estate, what they saw by the light of day was both confusing and dreadful. I'm sure the buzz throughout the tribes was the same: "This is the day! We will stand in the brink of a dream. So we can assume that the Israelites probably finished relocating before the sun had risen high in the sky. The journey from Acacia Grove to the river's edge is an easy one-just a few miles over smooth ground. They went as far as the Jordan and stayed there before crossing. Verse 1 of Chapter 3 records the event: Joshua started early the next morning and left Acacia Grove with all the Israelites. They would finally come to the entry point of the Promised Land. Immediately he dispatched runners throughout the vast camp of Israel, announcing that first thing the next morning, they would break camp and pitch their tents on the banks of the Jordan River. This was the news Joshua had been waiting for. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us." Their hearts were bursting with joy as they said the words of Joshua 2:24: "The LORD has handed over the entire land to us. They had escaped discovery with Rahab's help, and now they give their report to General Joshua. The two spies had returned from Jericho, having followed Joshua's orders to check out the land and the city.
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