The River Is Still Parting

Picture this. The people of Israel are camped on the edge of the Jordan River, and it is the worst possible time to cross it. The Bible says it's harvest time, which means the river is overflowing its banks — swollen from melted snow, moving fast, and way too deep to wade through. There's no bridge. There's no boat big enough for two million people. And standing on the other side is the promised land they've been waiting forty years to see.

God doesn't tell them to wait for the water to calm down. He tells them to get ready, because tomorrow He's going to do something none of them have ever seen with their own eyes. Most of this generation didn't watch the Red Sea split open — that was their parents' story, something they grew up hearing about but never lived. Now it's their turn. Joshua tells the priests to pick up the ark and start walking toward the river. Not around it. Into it. And the moment their feet touch the water, it stops. Not gradually — it stops so completely that people eighteen miles upstream watch it pile up like a wall while the rest of the nation walks across on dry ground.

Here's what got me thinking about this passage all week: God didn't wait for easier conditions to do something impossible. He picked the flood stage on purpose. I think there's something for us in that. Whenever life feels like it's moving too fast, too deep, too overwhelming to handle — that's not a sign God has stepped back. It might actually be exactly where He wants to show up next. This sermon series has been called 'It's Time,' and the message this week was pretty direct: God isn't just the God who used to do miracles back in some ancient story. He's still doing them. Right now. In whatever river you're standing in front of.

So before we dig into the details this week, just sit with the big picture for a second. This isn't a story about a river. It's a story about a God who specializes in showing up at the worst possible moment and turning it into the best story you'll ever tell. What if the flood-stage moment in your life right now isn't the problem? What if it's the setup?