The generation that now traveled with Joshua and Caleb hadn’t seen what God had done in Egypt. They had heard about it because Moses, before he died, went over the whole history of the Exodus in the words recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy. He pled with the people to trust the Lord. Mere “lip service” was not going to cut it. They were entering into a Land that was a gift and their living and prospering there would be dependent on God and them actually living out what they said they believed.

They came to the Jordan River. It was springtime and the river was at flood-tide, overflowing its banks. The Lord told the Levites to carry the Ark of the Covenant into the waters! The floodtide did not stop UNTIL their feet touched the water. They actually headed for a hole in the water that wasn’t there so that when they got there, the whole would be.

As soon as the feet of the first Levite carrying the Ark touched the Jordan, the waters parted and began to pile up upstream as the waters below flowed on till the river bottom downstream was dry. God blessed this new generation with the same kind of miraculous crossing that their ancestors had experienced. The heads of the families each picked up a stone from the middle of the river. 12 stones were stacked up as a memorial on the Canaan side of the Jordon.

God, Who had brought them out of slavery was bringing them into what He had promised. It would be a new way of living. God had been teaching them that He was their Provider, Protector and Peace. Their clothes and shoes never wore out. He never stopped giving them food from heaven and water from the rock. They had experience of living in faith and trust. That faith and trust needed to grow stronger for what was ahead. God’s provision would not ever fail as long as they trusted Him and gave Him their absolute allegiance. It was a relationship, not a religion. It was to be a growing intimacy in response to God’s lovingkindness to them.

When they entered in, they ate some of the produce of the Land. The land was hilly, dependent upon the rain that God would send. The day after eating from the Land, the manna stopped. Had God abandoned them? NO! His grace would know be known and experienced by them in new ways as they cooperated with Him in caring for and husbanding the Land. It would yield its fruit for them.

God can do miraculous things in our lives and does. We can subtly grow accustomed to God providing in a specific way. But, as we grow in faith and intimacy with Him, His way of providing may change. Our ancient enemy wants to whisper that God had abandoned us (a demonic lie) because He has changed the way He now provides. Babies are not meant to stay the same. They are meant to grow up and mature. Parents don’t stop loving, caring and providing, but as a child grows, it learns to cooperate in the ways of the family.

Life never flows from human effort. Salvation belongs to God alone and our faith depends upon Him from start to finish. We are utterly dependent upon what God has done, for what He has done enables us to follow Him in faith. There are seasons of the soul, but the one constant is God’s Love for us, His knowing us, His making His home in us in the power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit’s power. There will be battles to fight, but the victories are not won by human might, human power or ingenuity, but by His Spirit. Wherever you find yourself now, trust Him.