Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

December 31
Wednesday


STANDING ON
THE EDGE

READ:
Joshua 3:9-17
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[The Israelites] set
out...to cross over
the Jordan, with the
priests bearing the ark
of the covenant before
[them]. __Joshua 3:14
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My little girl stood apprehensively at the pool's edge. As a non-swimmer, she was just learning to become comfortable in the water. Her instructor waited in the pool with outstretched arms. As my daughter hesitated, I saw the questions in her eyes: will you catch me? What will happen if my head goes under?

The Israelites may have wondered what would happen when they crossed the Jordan River. Could they trust God to make dry ground appear in the riverbed? Was God guiding their new leader, Joshua, as he had led Moses? Would God help His people defeat the threatening canaanites who lived just across the river?

To learn the answers to these questions, the Israelites had to engage in a test of faith__they had to act. So they "set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before [them]" (v.14). Exercising their faith allowed them to see that God was with them. He was still directing Joshua, and he would help them settle in Canaan (vv.7,10,17).

If you are facing a test of faith, you too can move forward based on God's character and his unfailing promises. Relying on Him will help you move from where you are to where He wants you to be. __Jennifer Benson Schuldt

```````````````Lord, we're prone to quickly forget your goodness````````````````
``````````````and care for us. May we trust You today and into the`````````````
`````````````new year__whatever uncertainties we face. you are the```````````
```````````````````````````God who can be trusted.````````````````````````
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Fear fades when we trust our Father.

*****************************Today's Bible Reading __ Joshua 3:9-17*****************************

9 So Joshua said to the
children of Israel, "Come
here, and hear the words
of the LORD your God."

10 And Joshua said, "by
this you shall know that the
living God is among you,
and that He will without
fail drive out from before
you the Canaanites and
the Hittites and the Hivites
and the Perizzites and the
Girgashites and the Amorites
and the Jebusites: 11 behold,
the ark of the covenant of
the Lord of all the earth is
crossing over before you into
the Jordan. 12 Now therefore,
take for yourselves twelve
men from the tribes of Israel,
one man from every tribe.

13 And it shall come to pass,
as soon as the soles of the
feet of the priests who bear
the ark of the LORD, the
Lord of all the earth, shall
rest in the waters of the
Jordan, that the waters of the
Jordan shall be cut off, the
waters that come down from
upstream, and they shall
stand as a heap."

14 So it was, when the
people set out from their
camp to cross over the
Jordan, with the priests
bearing the ark of the
covenant before the people,

15 and as those who bore the
ark came to the Jordan, and
the feet of the priests who
bore the ark dipped in the
edge of the water (for the
Jordan overflows all its banks
during the whole time of
harvest), 16 that the waters
which came down from
upstream stood still, and rose
in a heap very far away at
Adam, the city that is beside
Zaretan. So the waters that
went down into the Sea of
the Arabah, the Salt sea,
failed, and were cut off; and
the people crossed over
opposite Jericho. 17 Then the
priests who bore the ark of
the covenant of the LORD
stood firm on dry ground in
the midst of the Jordan; and
all Israel crossed over on dry
ground, until all the people
had crossed completely over
the Jordan.