This is God's Earth
Joshua 3: 11 & 13
“Behold, the ark of a covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing before you into the Jordan. … And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, … the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”
Whenever our steps of faith usher us into unknown, uncomfortable, unforeseeable terrain, the thought that God is with us isn’t consolation enough; we need to know that He’s already blazed the trail. In other words, it’s a comforting truth that our Shepherd-King walks beside us through this human travail. But it’s a crucial truth that He ever goes before us.
Can’t you feel the unwritten trepidation in the hearts of these thousands of pilgrims as Joshua leads them to the banks of the Jordan? Joshua woke up this morning in earnest, eager to advance; but not everyone shares his courage. Not all men are as manly as Joshua. And this is a daunting step forward, isn’t it? I can imagine thousands of eyes gazing across the ripples of water into the infinite horizon beyond them and suddenly feeling a heaviness in their feet and a sinking sensation in their stomachs. After all, is there anything more anxiety-inducing than the great unknown?
But I love the winsomeness of Joshua to perceive their plight. It’s as if he feels their hesitancy here, as if he sees the doubt rising in their eyes like walls of water, and twice stirs their courage with the clarity they need most. He doesn’t refer to God as ‘The Lord of heaven,’ nor as ‘The Lord your God’—not here—not on the banks of an untrodden commission. Instead, he calls Him ‘The Lord of all the earth.’ As if to say, “Brothers, look out as far as your eyes can see! This land that we’re about to discover is God’s country! No matter how foreign this land seems to us now, He owns every inch of it! His name is etched into the fibers of every little blade of grass!”
Friend, whatever trial met you when you woke up this morning, look up! No matter how unfamiliar that step of faith seems, step out! God is with you—rejoice! Ah, but He’s already miles ahead.