Joshua 3 – Brandon Hatmaker “Prepare the Way”
Monday, July 28th, 2008
Two thoughts stand out to me today in Chapter 3. The first is found in verse 5, “Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."
Joshua told the people essentially to prepare themselves to experience a work of God. Throughout scripture this is a pattern… whether we’re talking about John the Baptist’s exhortation to “prepare the way of the Lord” or Paul’s to search our hearts prior to communion… we are often challenged to take a moment to consider the gravity of what is to come. I’m challenged today to press into that more deliberately. To prepare myself more prior to worship, to prepare myself more prior to Bible Study, to prepare myself for my day, to lead, to love, to learn… in all things to be ready for God to move. I think it will increase my personal expectation for God’s movement and open my eyes more. I’ll probably see God moving more often. I doubt that will be because He has increased His activity, but more so that I finally see it.
The second thought comes from verses 15 and 16:
“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, 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 was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.” Joshua 3:15-16
Twice now God has led the Israelites across a body of water. This water at one point seemed to be a huge obstacle. But God provided. The first time, He parted the Red Sea and showed the people the path prior to them moving. This time, He told them to step before they saw the path. When they did, and their “feet touched the water’s edge”, the water stopped flowing.
This is a reminder that sometimes we don’t see the path prior to stepping out. Sometimes we will. But that does not necessarily translate to the evidence of God’s leading, or lack there of. Sometimes we are called to step out on Faith… sometimes we can step out with all the details in place. God had given them the experiences in their past that strengthened their faith… each step of the way required more faith… and faith was grown.
My nature is to expect God to give me all the details prior to taking a step. But sometimes He just says, “Step and I’ll show you”. He’s up to something. We can be sure of that… our God is at work. He is building our faith. And He will be proven faithful. Like Rahab in the prior chapter, are we willing to be faithful? Even when the end does not appear to be in sight?
If we’ll look back, we’ll see where He has been proven faithful. We’ll see that He has built a strong foundation that can be trusted. Step and we’ll see.
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"Sanctify yourselves. Tomorrow God will work miracle-wonders among you." - Joshua 3:5
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere recently that the reason we don't see as many miracles today is because we don't need them.
In other words, we either take care of our problems, issues and obstacles ourselves by self-medicating, or we just allow ourselves to be distracted away from what God is doing...the miracles that are being performed.
I love these verses too, because they remind me to take the time to meditate on, focus on, think about, and set my mind on God. It's amazing what you start to see when you slow yourself down and prepare your heart to see God living and moving among us.
To sanctify, to consecrate, means to set apart. And so when Joshua is telling the people to sanctify themselves, he's telling them to get away from the cacophony of their daily living and go get quiet and practice just simply being in the presence of God.
I love the word you use, Brandon... to "consider." I definitely don't consider my days as I should. Perhaps if I made a more concerted effort to do so, my heart would be more alive with the spirit, my eyes more able to see what God's doing all around me, and my actions more in line with his will.
So many times, I just act without thinking. So many days go by where I fail to prepare myself, to consider what God has done, is doing, and will do in and around us. And I totally miss out on that which I want the most: to experience God.
So let us deliberately sanctify ourselves tonight, for tomorrow God will be working yet again. And I want to see it.
I love Tolerico's use of the words "It's amazing what you start to see when you slow yourself down and prepare your heart to see God living and moving among us." I think the key word or thought here is to slow down. Our world is moving at high speed and seems to be moving faster and faster all the time. When was the last time we shut down the email, cell phone, text message, just flat turned off our technology and sat and just talked to God and waited on Him quietly? I know for me it seems to be a race to see how much I can squeeze into a 24 hour period. I truly believe our lives would be a whole lot easier if we scheduled in 30 minutes of sitting still outside with a cup of coffee and said OK God, lets talk.
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