Carp's
Daily Tidbits
"Praise
the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Psalm 103:2
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Today's Title: You May Safely Cross Over
Today's Scripture: Joshua 3:15-16
It was a very typical Monday morning. I had originally planned to get up earlier
than usual to allow myself a little more time to get ready for work, a second
or third cup of coffee, and a pleasant, leisurely drive to work. Well, you can guess what happened,
right? The alarm clock went off on time
but I dozed just a few minutes longer than I should have. There was no coffee and my drive was anything
but leisurely. The traffic was awful and
felt more like an Indy 500 race than a leisurely drive to the office.
I got off
the Interstate at my usual exit and began my way toward the university. This street is always congested but this
morning it seemed to be more so. This was probably due to the fact that I was
running behind and wanted to get to the office.
As I made my way around the last bend, I noticed an older gentleman in
an orange vest sitting at an intersection.
He had a bright red stop sign beside his chair and he sat there very
calmly in the cool morning air.
This man was
one of many volunteers who work for the local school systems. His job is to stop traffic until school
children have safely crossed over from one side to the other. The power this man yields is incredible. No matter the color of the traffic light, if
he is in the crosswalk with a child, all cars, trucks, vans, scooters, and
bicycles must stop until he has safely delivered a little boy or girl to the
other side of the street.
The Old
Testament book of Joshua has a very similar illustration for us today. The Hebrew children were poised, ready to enter
the Promised Land and to rout their enemies before them. On the eve of their entrance, God informed
Joshua that He would provide safe passage for the people across the Jordan River . Joshua was to instruct the priests to carry
the Ark of the Covenant before the people and the priests were to stand in the
middle of the river. What happened next
is simply amazing!
Joshua 3:15-16 records this for us, “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.
It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the
vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah
(the Salt Sea ) was completely cut off. So the
people crossed over opposite Jericho .”
Wow! Don’t you
wish you could have witnessed this!!
Notice the condition of the Jordan River —flood
stage! Notice God’s instruction to the
priest—step into the water! Notice the
course of the Jordan River —toward the Dead Sea ! Notice
the results—the water upstream stopped flowing and the water downstream was cut
off! Now I ask you, what better
illustration of crossing over our problems into God’s promise exists than
this? Outside the crossing of the Red Sea , nothing!
God had
promised to be with His people and to provide for them. When it came time to cross over into the
land, the waters of the Jordan ,
even though at flood stage, posed no threat and were, in fact, inconsequential. The priests took the Ark , the symbol of God’s presence, and
entered the water. When we take God into
the middle of our trials the result is always miraculous. If we enter the water when, how, and where He
tells us, we find that we have safe passage from where we are to where He has
called us to be.
In essence,
God walked with the people, holding a stop sign, and the waters ceased their
flow. The waters upstream piled up while
the waters downstream just drifted away.
Like the Jordan River at flood stage, a life without Christ who lovingly
walks with us through all of life’s difficulties, leads to certain death and
eternal separation from God. However,
when we choose to become a follower of Jesus, we are able to cross over and
enter the promise of God’s love, mercy, and grace. We are able to inherit the kingdom He created
for those who choose to follow Him.
Jesus,
himself, spoke to this point. In John’s
gospel, Jesus says, "I tell you the
truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and
will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24)
What a
wonderful promise this is. Through our
faith in Jesus Christ, we have crossed over the Jordan
River , over the river of sin, over the river of death, and we have
received life! Just like the children in
the crosswalk this morning, and just like the people crossing the Jordan into the
Promised Land, we can walk confidently, secure in the knowledge that Christ
Jesus walks with us in all of life’s difficult paths. He
looks at us and says, “You may safely cross over with me!” Are you enjoying this kind of walk today?
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