Advent day 3 Joshua stones(1)

 Joshua chapters 3 and 4 tell of a truly amazing episode in our collective history as the church.  I strongly recommend you read it today, but heres a recap of the salient points

Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 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. 4 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.”

God's timing is always...... specific. And mostly not massively convenient. 😀  He gets His people up early and then makes them wait 3 day before He says Go!  I wonder if there was a bit of grumbling and questioning and general fed-upness in the camp by the evening of the first day.   

The ark is to go first.  If the presence of God doesnt go before His people then we will get lost.  None of us have been this way before.  Your day today is an unknown.  Only God knows how it will go, who you will meet, what you will see, hear and experience.  If He goes before you today when you reach a seeming impasse you can follow in His footsteps and keep on going.

But.... God is holy. He isnt our jogging buddy or our strolling companion (although of course there are times when He can be)  He is a righteous, scary, powerful Lion of Judah.  We need to reverence His presence going before us.

And the Lord said to Joshua, .......  Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’” (v8)

Joshua said to the Israelites, ............ And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”


God tells Joshua the plan. One of my favourite bible verses is in Amos 3;7

Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

But interestingly when Josh tells the people the plan it has expanded.  As he is speaking he is possibly getting a bigger picture of how this is going to happen - probably thinking back to Moses crossing the Red (reed) sea.  

The priests are brave men.  That's us.  We now carry the presence of God. We are now tasked with the job of hearing the instructions, coming to the edge of the river, choosing to believe what we have heard and deciding to wade out into the waters.  And in this picture everyone has to go together.  Nobody can chicken out or be left behind. Unity is crucial. As is faith.

Who is in your tribe?  Who stands shoulder to shoulder with you as you carry the presence of God in your community?  Are you being called to hear the word of the Lord today for your church/workplace/family? Maybe you dont feel that you've got the full picture and you are hesitating to go for it.  As you speak it out more of the plan will come,.

To be continued tomorrow. 

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