Following God

Well, it is officially 2021! How are things going so far for you?

We haven’t had a lot of time for things to go wrong yet, have we? I still have a mixture of concern and excitement in my heart as I think about the year to come.

I wish I had a crystal ball and could predict the future, but God hasn’t given us that ability.

I don’t really know what all is going to happen, but I can all but guarantee that there will be some time when God is going to call you or me to do something, and we will have to weigh out a decision and choose whether we want to follow God or note.

If you are like me, you may be prone to over-analyze the issues and try to figure out every angle and every possibility.

Although it is wise to think through choices, there comes a time when we can’t deliberate anymore.

If we are going to keep growing in our relationship with Christ, at some point, it is time to act.

I want to look at a time in Israel’s history where they were at that point, so go ahead and open to Joshua 3.

I feel like I say this pretty often, but this is one of my favorite passages.

God has used it in my heart often over the years, and I pray that he will use it in your heart this morning.

Some listening this morning may already be contemplating some kind of decision that you feel God is calling you to make.

Perhaps you have sensed God leading you to change jobs, or you have been convicted about a sin to avoid or a relationship you need to break off. Maybe there is a step of obedience that God is calling you to take, but it seems daunting and impossible.

Use this account to remind you of how we respond and how God can work on behalf of his people.

Others aren’t facing any changes they know of.

If that’s you, then file this away so you are ready the next time you face a choice to go on with God or stay where you are.

Back to Joshua, we see that Israel is facing that very kind of decision.

God had promised over 400 years earlier that he would give them the land of Canaan. 40 years before this point, they were ready to go in, but they refused to believe God could do it.

Now, they are back, and it is finally time to move.

They know where they are supposed to go—to the plains just outside of the city of Jericho.

There is only one problem: the Jordan River.

The Jordan is an interesting river. It snakes back and forth and has a lot of bushy undergrowth on the banks. Crossing it can be tricky under the best of circumstances.

As we will see, though, this was actually the worst time of year to try to cross it. Joshua and the nation arrive at the river around harvest time, and the Jordan River is at flood stage.

When it floods, there are places where it can be up to a mile wide.

Now, we have over 2 million people with all their stuff and all their livestock, and it is time to get them across this river.

Read with me Joshua 3:1-2a.

You know what I love about this passage? God parks them there for 3 days, just watching the water go by.

He doesn’t give them any real idea what he is going to do. All they can do is sit and watch and wait.

Do you ever feel like that?

As you follow God into the unknown of 2021, he may bring you right up to some massive obstacle and leave you there staring at it.

He may be leading you to spend more time with him, yet it seems like there is not a single minute to spare in your schedule.

He may be calling you to follow him overseas in missions, but there is no way you could ever come up with that money.

Perhaps he is calling you to teach or lead or switch jobs, and there is just too much about it that won’t work. You don’t have the skills, you don’t have the time, you don’t have the money, there is too much at stake; you just can’t get through it.

If so, you are in great company. That is where God often does his greatest work.

As we look at what God did for Joshua and Israel, we are going to draw out three steps for us to follow when it is time to move.

Write these down so you are ready when you need them. In fact, you can begin the first step now, even if you don’t have a specific decision that you know of on the horizon.

That first step is...

1) Get ready to go.

Read verses 1-5 with me again.

God had already moved them up to the edge of the Jordan River and let them get a good look at the obstacle in front of them.

Now, it was time to move again.

If they were going to follow God, they were going to need to do two things.

For one, they had to make external adjustments.

They had to get ready to physically move and go somewhere they had never been.

These may be the very first things we think of when we think of getting ready to move on with God, but don’t miss this truth: they couldn’t stay where they were and go on with God.

It just makes sense, doesn’t it? They can’t take possession of the land God was giving them unless they were willing and ready to move.

As we think about following God, don’t forget this incredibly important principle: you cannot stay where you are and go on with God.

There will be external changes. Maybe it is moving or changing jobs or changing how you spend your time or where you go and what you do.

As painful as it is, change is a part of following God!

Maybe that is why some of us are bored with following God—we have made it too mundane, and we have settled in when God wants us to move on.

God didn’t save you for you to stay the same. He saved you to shape you into the image of Jesus and to accomplish his plans through you.

That is part of the idea of delighting in and dwelling on God’s word like we talked about last week.

The people of Israel could have stopped right here. They did before.

They could have said, “That river is too big. We are just going to be fine here.”

If they had, they would have missed out on seeing God work and the blessings that come from following him into the unknown.

Is that what you are doing with your life? Are you ignoring what God is saying and settling for less than his best in your walk with him or your job or your marriage or your family?

Are you ignoring the changes he is calling you to make? Could it be that you feel like the external change is going to be too difficult or even impossible?

How can we make those changes when it seems so hard?

Just like we have seen through our study of the Sermon on the Mount and other passages, those external changes started internally in their walk with God.

Look back at verse 5.

Do you remember what “consecrate” means? This is the idea of “holy” or “set apart”.

If the people were going to be ready to go on with God, they had to set themselves apart from the sins they had been committing.

This was a specific time where God was working in a specific way, and he called his people to make sure they were living holy lives.

This is where you and I can start preparing for change before we even have any idea what God may be doing.

You can’t expect to follow God and keep living in sin.

Why would God open greater opportunities for you to see him work if you are disobeying what he already told you?

God may work through you in spite of your sin, but there is no guarantee. He is much more likely to use someone who is delighting and dwelling in his word, as we talked about last week.

Paul said this about those who were willing to live consecrated lives:

2 Timothy 2:21 CSB

So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Isn’t that the best possible outcome of your life? Then what sin do you need to get rid of? What internal and external adjustments do you need to make to let this year be a year where you are open to God using you in any good work he wants to do?

When it’s time to move, you had better be ready to make adjustments, and you need start at the heart.

Ask God to show you any sin that would be keeping him from using you so that when he moves, you are ready to follow.

Where are you allowing laziness or greed or pride or unbelief or lust or anger keep you from being set apart for God’s use?

Right now, set some time on your calendar today or this week to get alone with God for an extended period of time and ask him to help you see where you are falling short.

That way, God, through his Spirit, has made the internal changes necessary to be ready when it is time to make an external change.

Cultivate a mindset that is ready to say, “Yes, Lord,” before you even know the question.

I have heard some describe this as putting your “yes” on the table and letting God determine the particulars.

Once we are ready to move, then it is time to…

2) Listen to his plan.

Look back at verses 3-4.

Initially, all we know is that God’s plan involves the Israelites following the ark of the covenant.

Did you notice that, in his plan, God told them to stay back about 1000 yards? That is 10 football fields away!

What reason did God give in verse 4?

Stay back so you can see where the ark goes because you have not been this way before.

Doesn’t that just send chills up your spine? God is getting ready to move in a way that the people of Israel had never seen.

They were crossing into uncharted territory in their walk with God.

Wouldn’t that be incredible if God were to do the same in us?

He still can. Listen to what Paul said in Ephesians 3:

Ephesians 3:20–21 CSB

Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

God can do more than we could ever ask him to do or think he could, but only when we are following him.

Jump down with me to Joshua 3:7-13.

What was God’s plan?

It sounds pretty silly, doesn’t it? Send a box with some stone tablets in it out in front, and somehow, the waters are going to stop.

This doesn’t make sense to us from any angle.

Remember, they are getting ready to go into a military campaign, and their first target is within sight.

Wouldn’t you want to lead this crossing with your army as a show of force?

You wouldn’t want priest to go first.

Not only that, but this is physically impossible.

When the priests put their feet in the flooded, overflowing Jordan River, it is going to stop.

How many of you have ever been wading in a river?

Did it stop flowing when you stepped into it?

Of course not!

While we were at the beach this week, Caleb ran down to the water to wash his hands, and he held his hand up to the waves, as if he could make them stop.

As you can imagine, it didn’t work! We don’t have that kind of power, and neither did those priests.

God’s plan was physically impossible and militarily foolish.

Here’s what we need to take from this: God has a plan, whether he reveals it to us fully or not.

His plan may not make sense logically or even physically, and it may seem impossible, but remember, he is the Lord of all the earth!

Jeremiah 32:27 CSB

“Look, I am the Lord, the God over every creature. Is anything too difficult for me?

God specializes in the impossible!

Do you trust his plan, or are you waiting for him to explain how it is all going to work before you decide if you are in or not?

With our hearts ready to move and his plan in hand, that leaves us with only one option.

3) Follow his lead.

God told them to follow the ark of the covenant as it went ahead of them.

What is this whole “ark of the covenant”?

Well, it isn’t exactly what Indiana Jones made it seem like, and it isn’t a boat like Noah’s Ark.

The ark of the covenant was the physical symbol God used to remind Israel of his presence with his people.

It was basically a box overlaid with gold that was carried on poles by the Levitical priests.

He gave very specific instructions on how it should be built and transported, and there were very severe consequences when that was ignored.

If the ark was the symbol of God’s presence, then by telling them to follow the ark, he was saying that they were to follow his presence into the Promised Land.

If you are familiar with what what the Bible teaches about this time period, you may remember that God led them through the wilderness years with a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day.

They have been used to seeing God’s presence in front of them all the time, and this is no different.

Here, the Lord of all the earth, as Joshua says, is going ahead of them.

When it is time to move, you have to realize that God is the one who is going ahead of you.

He isn’t sending you somewhere without already being there himself; he is calling you to join him!

God’s plan to get you through this job transition or past this sinful addiction or health crisis or family struggle is not for you to bear down and do it; instead, his plan is to display his power through you as he works situations out you cannot imagine.

That’s what God told the apostle Paul when he was dealing with something that had him discouraged and defeated:

2 Corinthians 12:9 CSB

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

Just like with Israel, it may not make any sense whatsoever from the outside, but God is always able to work it out if he is the one leading.

It may be the exact way he wants to show himself strong.

We will fail miserably when we do things on our own, but when God is going before us, he can move heaven and earth to accomplish his desires!

That’s exactly what happens. Read with me verses 14-17.

Can you imagine the scene? You are standing about a half mile back, and you watch as those priests walk right up to the edge.

As soon as they do, the river stops and starts backing up!

What God did here is almost exactly like what he did in parting the Red Sea. The water stood up, the people passed over on completely dry ground, and it stayed that way as long as they needed to get everyone across.

One interesting difference between the two is that when God parted the Sea, it says he used a strong wind to do it.

Here, the water just stops. There is no mention of anything else.

God did more than they could have imagined, and he completely removed the obstacle.

Some people have tried to dismiss it, pointing out that there have been a few times in history where an earthquake dislodges some rocks next to the Jordan and it plugs it up.

Listen: that couldn’t happen during flood stage, and even if it did, the ground wouldn’t have been dry.

God supernaturally intervened so that his people could follow him where he was leading.

Let me ask you: has God changed in 3000 years?

Is he any less in charge of all creation than he was then?

Is he less powerful or less concerned?

The answer to all of those is an overwhelming, “No!”

If God is calling you to follow him, then by all means, do it!

I don’t care what is in your way, God is bigger than it.

God is bigger than money, he can control every cell of your body, he is worth more than any relationship on earth; God can and will move heaven and earth to accomplish his purposes if you will follow his leadership.

Remember, they weren’t just doing this on their own; they were following God into the midst of the river.

You can’t just sit around and say, “Well, I think God is going to bless me with a new job, so I am going to quit this one.”

Make sure your eyes are fixed on where God is and what he is doing so that can see him do the impossible.

I want to point out one more truth about this beautiful passage.

The greatest obstacle that you and I could ever face is death.

Many songs have been written using that picture of death as crossing the Jordan River.

Think about it for a minute. Doesn’t that make sense?

The ark represents the presence of God to his people.

Last month, we talked about a person who came to earth to show us God’s glory. Do you remember who that was? Jesus.

So, look at what we can see of Jesus in this picture.

Read verse 16 again.

Where does the Jordan River end? It ends in the Dead Sea, where everything flows into and dies. There isn’t anything living there.

The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus tasted death for us, but the glorious reality of Scripture is that he rose from the grave, stopping the inevitable flow of death.

He went into the river ahead of us and took our death upon himself. He stopped that river from flowing by rising from the dead.

Doesn’t that help you trust him to move every other obstacle that would keep you from being able to obey his plan? He has already removed the worst one, the one that none of us could ever take care of on our own.

Get ready to move! Make any internal and external adjustments to follow Him.

Listen to his plan. There is a high probability that it won’t make sense to you, and it will seem impossible, but he can do it!

Follow his lead. Don’t strike out on your own; get to know God so intimately that you can follow him wherever he leads.