13 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.” … 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, … So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
. — Joshua 3:13–17 (NIV84)
As we read this account of Israel’s history entering the promise land to attack Jericho, we see an intriguing miracle: The waters “parted” and “the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground” (v. 17). This is the LORD’s obvious “allusion” to the parting of the Red Sea, and He used it to remind both the Israelites and the residents of Jericho, that He still has the power! (cf. Joshua 2:10)
Some “silly” questions: Which came first (1) Did the waters part before the first priest dipped his foot into the river; (2) or did his foot get wet and then the river “heaped up”? I ask this because they later stood on dry ground—not moist, not damp, not mushy; but dry! Ground. If his foot was wet, well, could the ground be dry…?
Silly as these questions are, the point I’m making is this: We get so easily distracted with the minutia of some life episode or Scripture passage that we miss the main point. In this case, the first two priests had to go first, and by faith they lifted up their feet and stepped into the river. Remember, as the Colorado is now as I write this, the River Jordan was a flood stage (v. 15), flowing deep and rapid! No easy step of faith. But they took it!
So, I am asking you to join me in realizing that what came “first” was the priests’ faith to lift their feet and step; what happens after this is the LORD’s “business”. So let us also realize that as we prepare our hearts for the Month of July’s fasting, this is our “lifting our feet” to step into a flood stage river, and trust to see what the LORD will do next.
Hope in the Resurrection Power,
Pastor Mike