Risky Faith

Wednesday, January 1, 1997

Joshua 3:9-11,15-16 – Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you." 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, the water from upstream stopped flowing. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

A few years ago, our family went on a vacation to Pennsylvania. We stopped in a motel located on the Allegheny where we could swim along the beach at the river bank. The river was low at the time. Even so, a strong swimmer could hardly swim upstream, so strong was the current. If that treacherous river had been at flood stage, we would not have even been allowed down to the beach! The Allegheny is dangerous at all times, but especially at flood stage.

At the banks of the Jordan, God challenged the Israelites to risky faith. If they would believe and obey, God promised to go with them. God promised a way would be made across that raging river. Like many today, these desert-born Israelites had not seen the mighty acts of God in the Egypt deliverance. Against seemingly impossible odds, God was requiring them to go forward in faith. Trust is always risky. God knows that. So God only requires what God will enable. As the Israelite priests led out in courageous, risky faith carrying the Ark of the Covenant into that flood stage river, then God made the way across for the people. It works that way for us, too. Whatever God requires of us, God will enable us to do. But we have to take the first step, then God will increase our faith. Then God makes the impossible become possible for us.

Prayer: Dear God, We thank you for enabling us to come to you in faith. Increase our faith, that we might step out and risk doing the work of that you have given us to do in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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About the author:

Cassandra Wessel <casswessel4319@gmail.com>
Tionesta, Pennsylvania, USA

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