Crossing Jordan

I love the Word and how it is alive and living!  Many times in my life have I read Old Testament scriptures… and it was boring.  That was because I read them without the understanding that comes from living in the Spirit.  Then it becomes alive, exciting and applicable.

We often do not understand God’s plans for our lives and it frustrates us because we do not see or do not even know of the bigger picture.  This is exactly what happened to the Israelites when they were in the Wilderness for 40 long years.  They were glad to not be slaves anymore, but when times were tough in the wilderness, they longed for their old lives back in Egypt. They were slaves there, but at least they had a home and food to eat.

The other mistake we make is to not trust God and we look straight into our problems, the giants in front of us and forget that God is powerful and has great plans for us.  He promised this to us.  The Israelites did the same thing.  They were so close to entering what God had promised them and wanted them to have, but didn’t trust that He would be great enough to give it to them.  Instead they looked at the giants occupying the land and got scared.  The result… a very long time in a very unforgiving place.

It was only after the doubtful generation was dead that God again led them to the Promised Land.  Joshua, now in charge and knowing his history, was prepared to face the giants and trust in God.  The whole nation had to purify themselves and only after that could they cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land.  The priests with Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders first.

Now this didn’t mean that they could just walk in and take the land.  They still had to fight for it, but with the promise of God in the back of their minds.  Victory belonged to God’s people.

So why am I telling you this story that you already know?  Well, because this is what God has been doing in my life in the past week.  For a long time I have been walking in circles in the wilderness because I didn’t trust God wholeheartedly.  I gave Him access to most of my life, but He wanted all and I just couldn’t picture my life without me having a hand in it.  This doesn’t mean that I wasn’t a child of God and not living for Him.  It just meant that God couldn’t give me everything He had planned for me because I wouldn’t let Him.

As I journeyed with God, He led me to “the Jordan” again and I knew it was decision time.  I also knew which decision to make as previous experience has made me wiser.  Just like the purification of the Israelites before entering the Promised Land was painful, the decision was also going to be a painful one but necessary if I wanted all that God wanted to give to me.

Just like the gentle God He is, He went in front of me and let me cross on dry ground.  Now I am in the “Promised Land” and although I know there are some huge battles ahead, I have faith that God will give me victory there as well.  He is a faithful and loving God and only has my best interest at heart.  So silly that we cause ourselves so much trouble by not trusting Him with everything.  He is God!  Why do we think we can govern our lives better than Him who breathed life into us?

Trust God’s judgment; face your giants, cross the Jordan first time round.