The Story of Crossing Over into the Promised Land (Joshua 3-4)

It had been a long and hard journey, but God’s people are now ready to cross over into their land of promise. They actually could have crossed over many years sooner, but when the spies brought back a report of giants in the land the parents were afraid to enter and rebelled against God. It’s hard to believe they could do that, but they did and because of it they died in the wilderness as we have already learned. Their children, however, have now grown older; and they believe God is able to bring them into the land he promised them. Hurray for them! But wait, there is still one big obstacle between them and their land. The Jordan River is at flood stage and the water is rushing by very swiftly. How will they ever get across? Not without God, that’s for sure! Here’s what happened. God told Joshua, their new leader after Moses, to tell the priests to step into the rushing water. Now I’m sure that took a lot of courage, but as soon as they did the water stopped flowing immediately. That’s right, the priests were carrying the Ark of the Covenant, and as soon as their feet touched the water it stopped flowing. The water piled up in a giant heap quite a ways upstream because God was holding it back with his hand. The priests then stood in the middle of the river until all the people and all the animals crossed safely over to the other side. That had to take a lot of time. Do you think God’s hand got tired? No, God doesn’t get tired. After everyone was safely across, God allowed the river to start flowing once again. Wow! Is there anything too hard for God?