“Wow, never done anything like that before!” you just said to yourself out-loud. Goose bumps are still on your forearms; your scalp is still tingling. Talk about surreal! Everyone is in a bit of a daze.
“What just happened?” you say to the person next to you.
“Well, we . . . just crossed the flooded Jordan River . . . on dry ground,” he dumbfoundedly replies.
“That’s what I thought we did . . .” you respond, “but . . . how is that even possible?”
And here comes Joshua, calling everyone together for some kind of a river-side chat to talk about what just happened. And why.
The Lord your God dried up the Jordan’s waters until you crossed over, and He has done this so all the nations of the earth might recognize the LORD’s power, and so you might always fear the LORD your God.*
Oh. That’s why.
It’s 2020 now. And all these years later, whenever God steps in to intervene in nature or history, it seems to be for the same reasons: so all people will recognize the Lord’s power, and so we His followers will always have a reverential fear of the Lord our God. He does this on a grand scale (like when the hurricane turns away at the last moment), but also on a very personal level. Like when the baffled doctor says, “The cancer you had last week is just . . . gone.”
Of course, we wish He’d intervene in every hurricane and in every instance of cancer. And for His own reasons–that He may not explain till we’re in heaven–He often doesn’t. But when He does intervene, it’s still for the same two reasons: so people will recognize His mighty power, and so His followers will always relate to Him in reverential fear.
And that second part of His purpose begs the question to each of us: Considering all the times the Lord has intervened in my life, do I relate to Him in reverential fear? Always?
Or do I forget the amazing things He’s done? Or shrug them off as coincidence? or good fortune? Or do I only focus on the things He hasn’t done?
Will you join me in purposing to be conscious of God’s interventions, whether great or small, and to always respond to Him as He desires–with reverential fear?
*Joshua 4:23-24