God in the Leadership Role

 

Joshua 3:7-13

 

The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.   And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”   And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.”   And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.   Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.   Now, therefore, take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man.   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 of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”

 

Joshua has been a faithful friend, servant to Moses for over 40 years, never wavering in carrying out his boss's commands.  How it promotion time, Moses is not finishing the trip for God has told him to touch the rock one time with his staff, and in anger at the people Moses hit the rock three-time, and that kept him out of the Promise Land.

 

Now, God is the one making the promotion, not a vote of the leadership or the people, and God is going to be the one Joshua is going to listen to and follow.  When you have a leader that does that you have a great leader, when you have one that listens to the people and tries to be a man-pleaser you have a hireling.

 

Joshua gives the people the instruction of why and how they can believe that God is going to fulfill every promise He has made to them.  And first, they are going to see God stopping the flow of the Jordan at flood stage and Joshua, tell them as they see the nations fall in battle against them, it is not what they have done but God.  It is not a ragtag group coming out of Egypt the people of the land fear, no it is the God that is fighting for them.  Remember it was not as so many have a picture in their mind, the water was cut off back at the city of Adam, and the people could see the priest and the ark of God in the middle of the Jordan on dry ground, and they passed over three football fields away from it as required by the law.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice