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Joel Neely
in
Holmes Road Church of Christ
A month ago

Into the Flood

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;

the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.

May the Lord give strength to his people!

May the Lord bless his people with peace!


—Psalm 29:10-11


Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

you who lead Joseph like a flock.

You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.


—Psalm 80:1


So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away... And the people passed over opposite Jericho.


—Joshua 3:14-16 (excerpt)


How do we visualize that scene as the Israelites approached the Jordan river? As a wide-angle shot from a drone, looking out from a distance at a long line of people, following the ark? Or from eye level among the ark-bearers as they stepped toward the flood?


A flooded river looks one way to someone who is riding an inner tube or a kayak, carried along by the river in the direction that it is going. That same river looks very different to someone who approaches it intending to cross to the other side. Even more so if there are others following.


A flood, especially a flash-flood in a normally-dry stream bed in a wilderness, can be an awesome or even terrifying display of physical power, filling both eye and ear as it fills and overflows its banks. But those who were carrying the ark walked up to, and right into, the water. And the water got out of their way. They walked to the middle and stopped. Seeing them stand there on dry ground in the middle of what had been an out-of-its-banks flood just moments before gave the ones following them the courage, and the path, to cross.


The Lord's “royal priesthood”, equipped with His word and following His path, can approach the chaotic flood of human events with the knowledge that He is present, that He will guide His own and receive them to Himself.


And, if they are faithful, those who follow their example.