Awaken the Dawn
Joshua 3:1
Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
Remember that thrill of expectancy that filled your heart as a child, on Christmas Eve, when you measured those gifts under the tree from every angle, inspecting them one by one, noting their size and weight, listening to the sounds they made when you shook the boxes? Remember how you rolled around in bed throughout the night, peering at the hands of a clock that seemed indifferent to the holiday cheer, waiting for the first chirp of a morning dove or the first thin ray of dawn to slip through your windowsill?! Fast forward to the night before your wedding or the night before the big move out of state or the night before your deployment or the night before your baby’s due date or the night before your heart surgery. Nights like these are often sleepless, restless nights, aren’t they? When we’re on the cusp of a monumental advance, night just seems to drag on forever.
That must be what Joshua is feeling here on the cusp of Israel’s crossing of the Jordan. Maybe he doesn’t mean anything extraordinary by the line, “Then Joshua rose early in the morning”; maybe he’s just the sort of go-getter who’s always in bed at 9 p.m. and up at 4 a.m., and this day is no different in that regard. But I think there’s more to it than that. Not only is Joshua as anxious as a child on Christmas morning to get things going, but in rising early he sets the tone for everyone else. His rising here is active, not passive. Edlers aren’t rushing into his tent at 11:00 a.m. with embarrassed expressions to pull him out of bed. No—he awakens the dawn and all others with it. “Get up—it’s time!” he says. No delay, no rationalizations, no snooze button. Just up and at em’!
Just think, friend: for every miraculous step Joshua takes into the waters of the Jordan there were thousands of similar mundane steps just like these that got him there. So, if you haven’t already, brush the sleep from your eyes, put some cold water on your face, pray aloud, “LORD, I’m ready!”, and get busy about the LORD’s work.