"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.'" Joshua 3:8
"You want me to do what!?"
How many times have I thought that? That's what the priests must have been thinking. God simply said, "Go stand in the river." This wasn't a tiny stream. This was the Jordan River at flood stage.
Have you ever seen a river at flood stage?
A few years ago, I joined my daughter for a school trip on the banks of the Frio River. Thankfully, we weren't there to see the river in the same condition as the Jordan was when the priests stepped into it. But as I walked along the edges of a canyon carved out of the Texas countryside, it wasn't hard to imagine what it must be like. At the top of a canyon that was about twenty feet deep and forty feet across, there were remnants of previous flood waters. Trees and grass were filled with debris left there by a fast flowing current. If I had seen the river that day and heard the Lord say, "Go stand in it," I wonder if I could have been so brave.
Lord, sometimes I feel like You are asking me to stand in a raging river. We live in a society that races past us. Debris is everywhere. Wherever we turn, there are temptations. Sex is used to sell anything and everything. Materialism is highly honored. And as a Christian, I am called to go against the flow - to be still and know that You are God. Help me to have the strength and courage it takes to step into the raging current of the world. Hold me up so I might stand. Help me to see the truth: the river is piled in a heap, and You are with me - on dry ground.