Would it be okay if we engage our imaginations a little bit today? Though it’s not the standard fare of this site, how about we try it and see how it goes?
I want you to imagine that you’re an Israelite man. You and your nation have spent 40 long years wandering in the wilderness, but now at last God has told you it’s time to cross the Jordan River and enter the promised land. It sounds exciting. It sounds simple. But when you come to the Jordan you see that it is in flood. What at some times of the year is little more than a creek is now a wide and raging torrent. You wonder: What is God up to? Why would he command something that is impossible to actually do?
As you stand gazing at the river, you see the priests begin to file past. High on their shoulders is the ark of the covenant—the ark that is the place of God’s presence among his people. You watch the priests as they step into the river and as they step into the river you gasp. You gasp because the moment their feet get wet, the water begins to pull back. To your astonishment, the riverbed empties and the mud turns to dry land. The call goes out: It’s time to cross.
You hesitate for just a moment. You have a couple of young children and your wife is pregnant with another. As much as you love and trust God and as much as you have confidence in Joshua as your nation’s leader, you still wonder: “Is this really a good idea?” But God has commanded, so you obey.
As you walk toward the river you begin to think how dangerous it is to take your wife and your babies into it. You are naturally afraid. But then you look ahead and see the ark and you believe—God is here. You take that first step and begin to follow the way God has directed.
Even as you’re crossing, you can’t help yourself from looking upstream every now and again. Will the water come rushing back? Will it sweep your family away? But then you look beside you and you see the ark and you know: God is here. As an act of the will, you choose to keep trusting him.
Then you come to the far bank and begin to scramble up out of the riverbed. Imagine the sense of relief and the sense of joy. You are safe! Your wife and children are safe! You’re together in the promised land. You look back one last time and you see the ark and you know: God has been with you through it all—he has been before you, beside you, and behind you.
And many years later, when you are enjoying all the bounty of that land, you remember that God called you to endure something difficult, something that tested your faith, something that called you to new obedience. But now you can see that he was working all things together for good. The thing you thought might destroy you actually blessed you. It strengthened your trust, it refined your faith, it deepened your love, it led to so many blessings. God directed your path, provided for your every step, and delivered you to safety. And it was all to his glory and your good.
I do not know what you are going through in life right now. But I do know this: When you are safely home in heaven, you will act just like the person I’ve asked you to imagine. You will think back to these days and see that in every way God directed you, his purpose was never to harm you but only to bless you; never to leave you destitute but always to provide for you; never to abandon you but to deliver you. His purpose was only ever good and only ever best. That was true when you couldn’t see it and even when it made no sense. From that perspective, you will know and proclaim that God did all things well.
