Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Dry Ground

"For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever." Joshua 4:23-23.

These verses struck me as I read them this morning. As they walked through the Jordan they had to see the waters piled up, ready to overflow the banks again, and be at least somewhat afraid. Only Joshua and Caleb crossed over the Red Sea and had seen this miracle before. I wonder if they focused mostly on the water around them or the length of land between the two shores. I can put myself in this situation, and I know that I would be terrified that the water would crash back down on me. Did they even notice the dry ground?

I think about my own life and all that God does in the midst of waters that want to surge around me, or I spend time looking at how far away something I want is from me. I don't spend that much time noticing that as I walk through, my feet don't get stuck and I don't stumble. I don't notice that He has made the path dry for me.

I wonder if the bigger miracle was the dry ground, that was easy for those thousands of Israelites to walk over on, rather than the stopped up waves of the river. I know I tend to focus on the "big" miracle, like the stopped water, but walking on ground that should be muddy and isn't is pretty big too.

Lord, help me to notice and appreciate the dry ground that You have made my feet to walk on.