Crossing the River

Posted by Dion Todd August 23rd, 2024 1,263 Views 34 Comments

Now after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh, Yahweh spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, "Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the children of Israel. I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses. Joshua 1:1–3 WEB.

Painful memories had to come to Joshua's mind when the Lord told him to cross the Jordan river and finally lead the Israelites into the promised land. He had been there once before. Joshua was about eighty years old, but forty years earlier, he, his friend Caleb, and ten others had explored that land. When they returned, and some of their group spoke of giants who lived there, the people became paralyzed with fear. Instead of sticking with the plan and obeying God as they should have, they decided to stone Moses, appoint a new leader, and then return to Egypt.

God gave them a chance to enter the promised land, but they said, "We cannot do this!" So they wandered in the wilderness for forty years until that entire unbelieving generation died off. Then the Lord brought the next generation to the river and told them to cross over. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who had been part of the last crossing. Even Moses had passed on.

Joshua had to ask himself, 'Will the people actually go this time, or will we have to take some more laps around that mountain over there?' I am sure he breathed a sigh of relief once they had actually crossed the Jordan River and were on the other side. At least they had made it across the river this time. God had filtered out the unbelievers.

"Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn't believe" (Jude 1:5).

If you feel God is telling you to do something, don't let fear hold you back. You can go so far and accomplish so much if you will just step out in faith and trust Him. Be like the ones that trusted God to take care of them and crossed the river. Our God can do what He said He would do. So don't give up and lay down your sword in the middle of the battle. See it through to the very end. Those who trust in Him will not be disappointed.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I choose to trust in You today, for You are everything to me. Please lead me, and I will follow. Point the way, and I will go. Put Your words in my mouth, and I will share them with others. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!

Note: Good morning! We have a couple of new features that may interest you. First, if you look at the end of each devotional, there should be a gold button called “Favorite”. If you click that, it will add it to a list of your favorite devotionals, which can be found below the Devotionals entry on the main menu, titled “Favorite Devotionals”. This was per a request from a reader - thank you for the suggestion! The second change is we now have a Bible Search, which you can find under Bible Tools on the main menu! You can search by keyword or Bible passage there. This feature will be the backbone of future updates such as “clickable” Bible verses and the return of the interactive Bible quizzes. We’d appreciate if you could check them out and let us know if you have any comments or suggestions - God bless!