Still Waters

Joshua 3:1

“Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing.”

In the words of Pastor Steve, God will always guide you to go somewhere but sometimes, He will need you to stop. He will ask you to stop and camp, right before He brings you to your next destination. After wandering in the wilderness for so long, where they where not stuck but simply had stopped moving, God now brings them out and sets them on their course to a new location. However, right before they cross the Jordan to get there God tells them to stop and camp. If He is bringing them to their new purpose, why won’t He just let them cross? See I feel like sometimes God will ask you to stop because you aren’t trusting yet that He will bring you through. Maybe He needs you to understand that the old you is no longer necessary, He needs you to change and let go of who you were before so you can cross the Jordan to where He will bring you next but you will need to trust that He will guide you. Interesting for me is the fact that “all the Israelites” are mentioned – which to me sounds like God wants you to walk with everything you are going through, we will heal and pass to a new life in a new location but bring all your burdens with you and camp with them. Sit with them and see how much they have changed you before you cross. Sit in your insecurities but believe, trust that He will bring you to the new location. I believe that if you are capable of sitting with everything that burdens you, learn from it and then give it all up to God, accept that you are flawed but He is here with you and will not leave because you are flawed, better yet, He will guide you through it all and show that those flaws are not flaws but you trying to understand more than our minds can comprehend, trying to resolve issues that only He can show you how to fix, so let the Father show His children what to do next, if you are capable of seeing all this, then you have camped by the Jordan and God will help you cross the river when the time comes. There is a song called “Yet” by the King will come and one part of the lyrics always fills my heart – surprisingly as I was writing this piece of the text that song started playing and I had been thinking of this one phrase from the moment I started typing: “God, I know I’m not the same, but You knew that I would change, and I think, that you’re trying to tell me it’s ok. I know I’ve come so far but got so far to go, and with these brand-new scars and this broken heart it’s hard to really know, if there is a reason or if I’ll ever see it, but I want to believe it, so don’t give up on me yet.”

Sometimes He wants you to stop, understand that you changed, and it is ok, to let go of all that you were so He can bring you to what you are. But you need to stop, listen and simply wait, doesn’t matter for how long.

Joshua 3:2-4

“After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it”

Now here is where my interest was peaked – Firstly, notice that God told them to simply camp without telling them for how long. Why do we struggle with follow orders when we don’t know for how long we need to follow them? Even if the order is simply waiting, which I think might be the most difficult because, when the order is to suffer, regardless of how much it may hurt, we know deep down that it will pass. But waiting? Why does waiting always feel like it will never end? This is when we need to strengthen our faith and trust that at some point the waiting will also end but we become desperate. Secondly, and to me the most interesting part of this passage: ‘but keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not get near it.’ After waiting, believing, fighting to keep the faith up because they didn’t know how long they would be there, after being told to follow the priests when they see them with the ark, they are now instructed to keep a distance. God shows them the way to their new purpose and yet tells them to keep a distance. Although it might sound confusing or unfair, don’t we tend to jump towards our goals when something slightly good happens and then we get lost because we don’t know the way or how to handle it? See I believe in this passage God tells us that He will lead us towards where He wants us to be if we truly believe Him, but we should not rush. Don’t rely on your thoughts, don’t rely on your instincts because you have never been down this road therefore you do not know the way, but He does. So even when He shows you the way to your next destination, do not rush to the end line, rather take in the view around you, hold His hand and let him guide you. Simply believe that He will guide you where you need to go. Let him be your guide not your ride.