Joshua 3 - Have Faith Not Fear

     I know I just barely wrote a post, but I want this one to be separate, and I have to post while it's still on my mind.

     I have realized lately that I have been letting fear get it the way of my happiness. I have been worrying too much about what could happen, and letting "what-if's" get into my mind and disturb my peace. Yesterday at church one of the speakers mentioned something that struck me. She said that there are those who cling to the rod, the ones who are holding on for dear life, and there are those who hold firm to the rod. Those who cling to the rod obviously know that it is important, and are heading in the right direction. But they are afraid, and so in danger of losing their faith. Those who hold firm to the rod are confident in themselves and in the Lord. They know that there is know reason to be afraid, as long as they are holding firm. Fear is the opposite of faith, and they can not exist together. If you let fear in it will smother your faith. And likewise if you nourish your faith it will drive out the fear.

     This led me to think about the story in Joshua, when they had to carry the ark of the covenant across the Jordan River. It's a story that has always stood out to me, since the first time I read it. It is from Joshua chaper 3:

11Behold, the ark of the covenant
of the Lord of all the earth passeth
over before you into Jordan.

 12Now therefore take you twelve 

men out of the tribes of 

Israel, out of every tribe a man.

 13And it shall come to pass, as

soon as the soles of the feet of the 

priests that bear the ark of the Lord, 

the Lord of all the earth, shall rest 

in the waters of Jordan, that the 

waters of Jordan shall be cut off  

from the waters that come down 

from above; and they shall stand 

upon an ^aheap.

 14¶And it came to pass, when the 

people removed from their tents, to 

pass over Jordan, and the priests 

bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;

 15And as they that bare the ark 

were come unto Jordan, and the feet 

of the priests that bare the ark were 

dipped in the brim of the water, (for 

Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

 16That the ^awaters which came 

down from ^babove ^cstood and rose up 

upon an ^dheap very far from the city 

Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and 

those that came down toward the 

sea of the plain, even ^ethe salt sea, 

failed, and were cut off: and the people 

passed over right against Jericho.

 17And the priests that bare the 

ark of the covenant of the Lord 

stood firm on ^adry ground in the 

midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites 

passed over on dry ground, until all the 

people were passed clean over Jordan.

     What impresses me about this story is this: The priests had to get their feet wet before the waters parted for them. Can you imagine that? The prophet tells you to step forward into the water and then the water will part, and you will be able to walk through on dry ground. What must they have been thinking? Couldn't Joshua have parted the water and then told them to walk through? Nope, it was a test of faith. They had to take the first steps, and then the Lord did the rest.

     My point is, that sometimes you have to get your feet wet before the waters part. Don't just stand there and wait for things to happen before you make a move. The Lord wants us to learn to trust him. If he always just shows us that things will be fine before we even do anything then how will we learn to conquer our fears and move forward with faith? Faith isn't seeing that the waters have already parted and saying "oh it looks like it's safe to move on." Faith is trusting the Lord before we know how things will turn out.

     We need to trust the Lord, and know that if we move forward he will provide a way for us. In the end we will walk through on dry ground.