My kids started school this year and are in pre-K and Kindergarten respectively. One of the ways I get to participate in their schooling is that I do all of their Bible homework with them. I eagerly agreed to this because I knew I would learn with them, seeing it through their eyes. I have loved the new things God has taught me through the scriptures that relate to the journey I am on today.
For instance, we have been reading about the Israelites "Exodus" from Egypt. Most recently we arrived in the book of Joshua where the Israelites were crossing the Jordan River under Joshua's leadership after the death of Moses. About the time we got to this passage my pastor spoke on that historic event and added some insight that I had never heard or considered. It's remarkable how often I am guilty of simply reading scripture rather than studying and meditating on it! So, I have been camped out in Joshua re-reading the story, studying commentaries and researching it online. It's fascinating especially as I think about how specifically it applies to our modern day struggles to persevere in Christ in the midst of sin and suffering.
If you are unfamiliar with the story, Joshua 3:14-17 (NAS):
So when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant before the people, and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.
As it says in the passage above, the Jordan was in flood stage. The priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant (the actual presence of God) were to walk with the Ark into the Jordan and upon touching it the water was to stop. I am sure the raging waters frightened them, but they trusted that God would see them through.
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