Summer At Sea: Week 5 Day 3

Joshua 4:1-7

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, 3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” 4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6  to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

There once was a time when seatbelts were not required. Every parent was very good at tossing up their right arm swiftly if they needed to brake quickly; the purpose of the arm block was to hold everything in place that might be moving forward from behind. Just as a parent would do anything to prevent something bad from happening to their child, so does God with His children.

We read today that God instructed the Ark of the Covenant to go before them, so the Israelites would know which way to go (Joshua 4). Then the Ark stayed in the river while the whole nation (approximately 2-3 million people) crossed over. Then God told Joshua to pull stones from the river, and the Ark remained in the river until everything God wanted completed was done. God, the protector and defender, led them in, stood in the middle holding the water back, and then followed them out. What great peace we should live in knowing we have a Heavenly Father who is willing to stand with us in every river crossing of our lives. 

What area in your life do you need to trust that the Father has you safe in His arms? What circumstances or people do you need to release into His care? Pray over these things today.