Rambling Into Tuesday

Bear with me this morning because my thoughts are like skittish horses, dancing here, jumping there, sometimes going around in circles. Men  put blinders on horses so they see only straight ahead of them but I’ve never liked blinders. Therefore, my thoughts are not behaving themselves.

This morning’s Scripture reading was Joshua 3:1-17. The Lord had led the Israelites from Egypt with the great man of God, Moses. But now Moses had died and Joshua took over leadership. The Israelites left their camp at Acacia and were met by the Jordan River. And it was in flood stage. How in the world were they going to get across? Would they ever reach the Promised Land?

Do you ever wonder about inconsequential things? I do. Was there a grove of Acacia trees where they camped? That was neither here nor there with the story; still, I wondered.

The Lord told Joshua that the priests carrying the covenant box must step into the river and stand near the bank. Well, I can imagine what some of the people thought. The river was rolling, rumbling, charging toward the Dead Sea and it must have been a fearsome sight, but the priests obeyed. And, when they obeyed, the Lord stopped the waters of the Jordan. That muddy, roaring current shut down as if it encountered a gigantic dam. The waters must have surged and struggled, foamed and writhed but the Lord was mightier than the Jordan River and the river had to obey. Scriptures says the people crossed over the Jordan near Jericho on dry ground. Not muddy, mind you, but dry. At a time like that, blinders would have come in handy, wouldn’t they? Maybe the Israelites’ hearts were pounding, maybe they were scared or…maybe not. Anyway, they obeyed the Lord.

A promise came with the obedience of the people. The Lord promised to drive out their enemies ahead of them. And, He did. I’ve wondered what would have happened if the peoople had looked at the flooding Jordan and fear overcame them. What if they had said, “No way. We’ll be drowned.” What if they had not done what God told them, would He have driven out their enemies? I don’t think so.

Today, our enemies abound. They mock; they ridicule; and they, like the Jordan, look pretty formidable. I believe God’s promise is still true but it hinges on that little word If (one of the biggest little words in our language). He’ll drive out our enemies if we obey Him. We should not look at what appears to be insurmountable odds (the threatening waters of the Jordan) but we should keep our eyes on Jesus. He will defeat our enemies and we’ll pass through our own Jordan Rivers, on dry ground.

This morning, one of my books, Best Left Buried is listed in The Fussy Librarian.  Happy reading!