The Priest who carried the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh stood still on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan River and all Israel continued to cross dry-shod until the whole nation had finished its crossing of the river.  (Joshua 3 vs. 17)

God gave the nation of Israel life when he led them over the Jordan river into the promised land.  The Ark of the Covenant reminded them of His sustaining power as they walked over dry ground in the middle of a river at flood stage.  Once again he had parted water to give an entire nation of people passage into a new land.

God does the same in our own lives.  He gives us free passage into a new life, into our promised land.  The question is, will we have the faith to take that first step, into the river at flood stage and cross the Jordan rivers in our life?  Too often we don’t.  Some of us never do.  Think about the leap of faith it was for that first tribesman to step into a swiftly flowing, flooding river with the weight of the ark on his back, simply at Joshua’s command.  We believe from scripture that Joshua was commanded to do this from God (Joshua 3 vs. 7).  Yet too often we don’t believe God will sustain us if we take that leap of faith in our own life.

I have spent years of my own life and watched others spend an entire lifetime in dissatisfaction and bitterness because we refused to take that leap of faith.  Remember, we had to cross the desert to get to the promised land.  The faith lesson learned in the desert is what prepares us to cross the Jordan rivers of our own life.

Sometimes we judge the Israelites too harshly for their lack of faith without any thought of what their faith called them to do.  Crossing a river on foot at flood stage with women children was very difficult, and that was just the first step.  After they got there, they had to go to war with fortified cities and establish control.  The river floods at harvest.  Therefore, they had missed their chance to store food for winter.  This was not an easy passage into a new land flowing with milk and honey.  They still had to make the milk and honey.

The hardships of crossing our own Jordan rivers seem small in comparison and yet there are times when will not even leave a job, take a job, make a commitment of marriage, have children, go to college, etc., because we lack faith.  I am not talking about chasing after a fantasy or escaping reality.  I am talking about walking forward in faith when we know in our heart it is the right decision.

We also need to remember from our desert experience the purpose of crossing the river.  In the book “The Purpose-Driven Life” by Rick Warren, the first sentence in the first chapter says it all.  “It’s not about you.”  In fact, nothing in life is about us.  It is all about God and living his intended purpose in our life.  This is what Rick Warren's book is all about.  It is also what the Israelites were all about.  This is why their nation has never been destroyed.  Whatever their mistakes, even when they lost their homeland, they understood that the reason God separated the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan river is because the purpose of their life was to serve God.

God did not part the waters of the Jordan river and allow the people of Israel to walk across the river bed dry-shod so that they could be rich and powerful or easy and carefree. He sent them across the Jordan to live in the promised land so that they could be a light unto the world.

It is the same for us.  Jesus said, “You can not serve both God and mammon.”  He went on to say you can’t serve two masters, you will hate one and love the other.  Sometimes we get so frustrated we hate both.  I have experienced this first-hand.  It is very difficult to hold down two jobs, or in my case, own a business and hold down a job at the same time.

One was my purpose and the other my substance.  My mistake was that I was simply trying to expand my wealth.  I could not see God's purpose in my life.  The end result was that both endeavors failed and I was burdened with years of responsibility that eventually wore me down to despair.  The good thing about living a life of faith is that I finally realized that my purpose was not to get rich or expand my territory but to serve God.  After that, I realized that I wasn’t supposed to stand on the bank or the river in indecision but to go forward in faith and cross the river into my promised land.  Like the Israelites, I had to cross the river with faith and purpose.

Like the Israelites, when we find our Jordan river, God will part the waters of the impossible so that we can cross into our promised land.