{"id":12892,"date":"2020-11-29T20:39:24","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T03:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/joshua_4_1-10-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-11-29T20:45:31","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T03:45:31","slug":"joshua_4_11-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/joshua_4_11-24\/","title":{"rendered":"God Is Never Too Early and Never Too Late"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joshua 4:11-24 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Joshua 4:11-24.\u00a0 We’ll include verse 10 in here too.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Joshua 4:10-18 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over,
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and the priests came to the other side while the people watched.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, armed, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0to the plains of Jericho for war.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0That day the\u00a0LORD\u00a0exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they revered him all the days of his life, just as they had revered Moses.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Joshua,
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Command the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the\u00a0LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-18:\u00a0\u00a0If I was one of the priests carrying the ark, and I had to remain standing in the middle of the Jordan River while everyone else is passing through, I would probably be more than a little nervous, thinking, \u201cCan we go over already?\u00a0\u00a0What if the river collapses on us and washes us away?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0But the priests stayed until all 40,000 Israelites crossed over the Jordan River (v13).\u00a0\u00a0It wasn\u2019t until all the soldiers crossed over that God gave the command for the priests to come out of the Jordan (v13-17), and the moment the priests stepped foot on the other side of the Jordan River the river waters returned to flood stage as before (v18).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0While waiting for God to command our next step, we might be tempted to get anxious and nervous.\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes we\u2019ll feel like going when God says, \u201cNot yet\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But rest assured,\u00a0God\u2019s timing is perfect.\u00a0\u00a0His provision is never too early and never too late.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0He will make sure His people are protected and taken care of.<\/p>\n

Also, notice that as a result of this miracle, just as God had planned earlier (Joshua 3:7), the Israelites revered Joshua the same way they revered Moses.\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God is faithful to keep His promises.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joshua 4:19-24 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0is powerful and so that you might always fear the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-24:\u00a0\u00a0Joshua explains to the Israelites that God did the incredible miracle of allowing them to cross the Jordan River on dry ground for two reasons: (1) so that the world would know that God is real and powerful (v24a) and (2) so that His people would trust Him (v24b) and realize that the same God who helped their ancestors in the past is helping them today (v23b).<\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0there is always a meaning behind every miracle<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Every miracle God does has a lesson behind it that God wants us to learn.\u00a0\u00a0So when God does a miracle in your life, don\u2019t just rejoice and don\u2019t just keep going with life.\u00a0\u00a0Just as Joshua raised the question, \u201cWhat do these stones mean?\u201d (v21), ask the Holy Spirit to show you the meaning behind the miracle.\u00a0\u00a0For God gives you a miracle not just for show, but to teach you something about who He is.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that there is a meaning behind every miracle.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that You are faithful to keep Your promises, and trustworthy to take care of us.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that Your provision always comes at the perfect time, never too early and never too late.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Joshua 4:11-24.\u00a0 We’ll include verse 10 in here too.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Joshua 4:10-18 (NIV)\u00a0
\n10\u00a0\u00a0Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over,
\n11\u00a0\u00a0and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and the priests came to the other side while the people watched.
\n12\u00a0\u00a0The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, armed, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them…….<\/p>\n

On verses 10-18:\u00a0\u00a0If I was one of the priests carrying the ark, and I had to remain standing in the middle of the Jordan River while everyone else is passing through, I would probably be more than a little nervous, thinking, \u201cCan we go over already?\u00a0\u00a0What if the river collapses on us and washes us away?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0But the priests stayed until all 40,000 Israelites crossed over the Jordan River (v13).\u00a0\u00a0It wasn\u2019t until all the soldiers crossed over that God gave the command for the priests to come out of the Jordan (v13-17), and the moment the priests stepped foot on the other side of the Jordan River the river waters returned to flood stage as before (v18).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12892"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12893,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12892\/revisions\/12893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}