A step of faith

And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap." – Joshua 3v13

Whenever I read this passage my mind goes back to many years ago in the Madison County Coliseum in Huntsville where a gospel group, I think it was the Cathedrals, sang the song ‘Step Into the Water.’

Now it has been a long time, and my memory very well might be flawed here, but I think I remember them relating this Bible event to the song. The priests were told that before the Jordan would be parted for them to cross over on dry land they actually had to step into the water. As soon as the soles of their feet touched the river the waters would part.

This was a lot different than when Moses parted the Red Sea. There he raised his staff and the people saw dry ground. Here they were called to step into the river and then God would do the rest.

While the Red Sea crossing was big and powerful and obvious and one of those times when God just steps in and does a something massive for us, the Jordan River crossing is more like what we encounter every day. Most of the time we are called to step out in faith and God work. As fearsome as it might have been to those priests, and as much as they might have wondered if God was going to do it this time, they got to the river, perhaps took a deep breath, and stepped out. When they did, God answered and parted the river for them.

We face Jordan River experiences all the time. God leads us to a certain point, a chance to share our faith for example, and then it is up to us. If we stop short we never get to see God work, but if we say that first word, step into the water in essence, we see God open the way to do the rest.

What do we do when our faith had brought us to the Jordan River? How about trying ‘step into the water’ and see what God will do?