Crossing the Jordan

“Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9

After Moses died, God spoke to Joshua. “Moses my servant is dead,” God said. “Now you must lead all these people across the River Jordan into the land I am giving them. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you. Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

The River Jordan was between the Israelites and the promised land. And it was harvest time, when the river was flooding over its banks. There was no bridge, and there were no boats. How could thousands and thousands of people, with their children and their animals, get across?

Joshua told the people, “Tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

God told Joshua what to do. The priests were to carry the ark of the covenant, the golden chest from the tabernacle, and walk ahead of the people, right into the river.

So the next day, the people packed up their tents and set off, with the priests carrying the ark in front. The river was deep and fast. But as soon as the priests’ feet touched the edge of the water, the river stopped flowing! The water piled up far away upstream, at a town called Adam. And the riverbed in front of them was dry.

The priests carrying the ark walked into the middle of the river and stood there on dry ground. And the whole nation of Israel walked across, right past them, on dry ground.

It was just like the Red Sea, forty years before! The children who had grown up in the desert had heard their parents tell that story. Now they saw God do it again for them.

When everyone had crossed, God told Joshua, “Choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them to take twelve stones from the middle of the river, from right where the priests are standing.”

So the twelve men each picked up a big stone from the riverbed, carried it on his shoulder, and brought it to the place where they camped that night.

When the priests carrying the ark came up out of the river, and their feet touched dry land, the water came rushing back and flooded over its banks again, just as before.

Joshua set up the twelve stones in a pile. “In the future,” he said, “your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘The River Jordan stopped flowing in front of the ark of the Lord.’ These stones will help the people of Israel remember for ever.”

God did this, Joshua said, “so that all the people of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and so that you may always fear the Lord your God.”

Read it in your Bible: Joshua 1:1–9; 3–4

Dear God, thank you that you are with me wherever I go. Help me to be strong and brave, and to remember all the good things you have done. Amen.