On Dry Ground

The sun is coming up over the water, today we cross the river.  The promise is that as we take the first step in the water, the downward flow will stand in a heap and we will walk through on dry ground.  Everyone is prepared.  The people are anxiously awaiting the command to advance.  The Priests are to lead the people, carrying the ark of the covenant, keeping a thousand-yard distance, all eyes on the ark, because we’ve never gone this way before. 

I’ve spent the last three days replaying the report the spies brought back from Jericho.  A woman, a prostitute, hid my men on the roof of her house when they went to spy out the city.  The story they told is unbelievable.  She came to them after dark and said, “I know the Lord has given you the land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.  For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you destroyed across the Jordan.  When we heard this, we lost heart and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.” 

How could a woman, a foreign prostitute no less, who had only heard of Yahweh have more faith than a man who had been there and seen with his own eyes all your mighty wonders? How was she willing to risk her life and everything she had ever known to believe in You, because of a few rumors? 

The irony is that a foreign prostitute believes more than your own people that You have given us the land and you will hand over our enemies.  You have performed miracles, that at just the rumor of them, fortified cities have lost heart and tremble in anticipation.  Even though I was there when we crossed through the Red Sea and commanded the army in the battles against Sihon and Og, it’s still so hard to believe.

How strange that the confirmation from this woman is exactly what I needed to fortify my resolve, You are with me and you will make a way.   It’s time to take that step of faith.  We have prepared ourselves.  We have made our plans, but now it’s time to cross the Jordan.

They are waiting for my signal.  Turning to the people, I say, “Come closer and listen to the words of the Lord your God.  He said, ‘You will know that the living God is among you and will without fail drive out (your enemies), when the ark of the covenant goes ahead of you into the Jordan.”

The priests stand at the bank of the river, with bated breath and trembling hands, and take the first step into the water and we all wait a moment that feels like a lifetime, to see what happens.  Amazingly, the flow of the river stops as if an enormous invisible wall has been erected and I know in that moment that your hand is holding back the water.  There’s a collective breath and a sense of wonder at what we are witnessing.  The priests begin to progress into the dry river bed.  In a surreal daze we begin to move forward, each of us taking our first step into the water.   The twelve men from every tribe, who were appointed to gather the stones of remembrance, lift the heavy stones that will commemorate this day.  When we see the heaping stones, we will remember this day, on days when it feels like a dream and we wonder if it really happened, the stones will attest that we truly saw the waters held back and we walked through on dry ground. 

On the other side of the Jordan I watch as millions take their turns and walk across the river bed.  I see the faces of wonder, reflecting my own sense of amazement.  Who am I and who are these people that you, the Creator of the Universe would move mountains of water on our behalf.  Who are you God that you would do wonders and display your splendor and glory for all of us to see.   

You are the faithful God.  The God who keeps his covenant with his people.  The God who created heaven and earth.  The God who displays his wonders for all the nations to see and we are your people.  We are ready to follow you into the land you have promised.