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.

Shaking

"And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." Acts 4:31

I am fascinated by the people of the Early Church. Some of them actually knew Jesus when He was on Earth. Some died for being a follower. One notable one even persecuted them before becoming one of them. They shared with each other; the poo; and the orphans and widows. Although I am sure their faith was as shaky as any of us today, they had so much faith that when they prayed things shook.

This verse doesn't even say that they were afraid when the shaking happened. It says that were filled with the Holy Spirit and not just spoke the word of God with boldness, but continued to speak with boldness. These people in the face of ridicule and even persecution spoke the word of God boldly.

If you look earlier in the chapter you can see that Peter and John were in trouble with the priests had told them to stop teaching in the name of Jesus. When they were let go they went straight to their people and told them what happened. Then lifted up their voices to God and told Him about all who were against Him and them. They didn't ask Him to take away the threats against them. Nope they asked Him to help them speak more boldly.

I know in my life that when things are shaking around me or when others are attacking me I want it to go away. How many times have I thought, "if that person would just go away." Instead I need to pray that God would help me to speak boldly, to live boldly. In a world that seems to be more and more taken in by the deception of satan, and one in which Christians put down and ridicule other Christians, there needs to be a people who will speak boldly and pray that God helps them continue to speak boldly.

Do you want to be one of them?