When the Israelites were fleeing from their former Egyptian masters, they were doing pretty well until they came up to the Red Sea. Perplexed by what to do next, God performs one of the most famous miracles of the Old Testament and ultimately of the entire Bible. He works through the obedience of Moses and the power of the wind to blow the Red Sea vertical into two walls and the Israelites crossed through the sea on dry land. Its a great story, and is used over and over again in our lives when we face seemingly impossible situations. People encourage us using this story as an example of allowing God to show us the way to pass through our struggle, and to have faith that stepping onto that path and trusting that God will sustain the waters, we will safely come through the other side. It is also frequently used by people seeking God's will in a certain situation, that we just need to wait on God to show us the path.
Both of those situations are great examples of one way that God worked with this people group and used the faith and obedience to bring them close to Him and allow them to walk alongside Him within His will...
But the rub is this: people often get stuck in thinking that this is the only way that God works. The He will always clearly define the path before us, then call us to move, and give us a nice, easy, clean pursuit down the road of His will. We get so busy being stuck at the shore of our given Red Sea that we forget another story that occurs that involves another water crossing...
The Israelites are finally heading to the promised land, they are marching under the leadership of Joshua, and they come upon the Jordan River. They must cross it in order to reach the Promised Land. They knew the goal they were marching towards, and they knew they had to get through the river. But the Jordan River was at its traditional flood stage, it was ripping through the countryside, violently rushing as a barrier of this part of their journey. Yet this time, instead of having His people wait while He cleared an easy, direct path through the obstacle, God tells them to send the priests carrying the Arc to stand in the middle of the river. And, while they are standing there, He calls a group of leaders to follow into the river. At this point, the river halts its flow, and the rest of the Israelites are able to pass through the river and continue their march to the Promised Land.
What should this tell us? It shows that sometimes, God doesn't define a path through our struggles or clearly delineate His plan or will... sometimes He calls us to action in faith. Sometimes we have to step right into the raging river ahead of us first. Not only that, but also, God called them to carry the Arc out there with them! Their most precious, significant possession they had. God was asking them to send all they had that they held at high importance to go stand in the middle of the obstacle. And it was only after they faithfully obeyed and began to press towards their goal did God halt the water and show them their next step.
We see here that there are times that God does give His people clear, easy, clean, directions that show how to get from the here to the there... how to accomplish a goal, how to get through something difficult, etc... but we also see that sometimes, He only gives us an end goal in mind, and requires a radical act of faith, a sacrificial obedience and a determination to achieve the goal, and then, He will show us the next step...
I don't know the best way to tell the difference from one to the other, but I do know this... if you are standing on the shore, and you don't see a direct path in front of you, start stepping into the water... if you want to achieve something, be willing to sacrifice, trusting that God will be faithful, and start...
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