In Joshua chapters 3 and 4, we read of the miraculous parting of the Jordan River. As the bearers of the Ark of the Covenant entered the water, the river opened up before them, so that all of the children of Israel could enter the promised land on dry ground. The priests carrying the Ark had to remain in place until the whole host had passed. Before they followed their brethren, one member of each tribe took up a stone from the bottom of the river bed where the priests stood and they stacked up the twelve stones as a memorial of the day that the Lord miraculously opened up the way for them to leave their wanderings in the desert and finally have rest. Some fifteen hundred years later, the Rock would return to the River Jordan, when Jesus went to John the Baptist in the River Jordan to be baptized and fully immersed in the water. The stones that Joshua’s people pulled out of the river symbolized God sheltering His covenant people from even getting wet. The New and Everlasting Covenant that Christ instituted invited all to walk in His footsteps, even if it meant not just getting a little wet but becoming fully immersed. Isn't it great that the Lord trusts us enough to allow us to get a little wet? Sometimes we might feel like having the Lord hold back the river of troubles and afflictions for us would be so much better, but we will only come to know our Savior better if we follow Him, even into the depths of the river. God wants us to grow and that means He has to let us experience all the good and the bad. He can't always hide us under a bushel. But we can be sure that whatever horrible predicament we manage to get ourselves into, Christ got there first and He can help us navigate the slippery river bottom and withstand the fierce pull of the current and make it to the other side, perhaps a little wetter than the people in Joshua's day but all the better for it.
