Never Before

Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. (Joshua 3:4–6, ESV) 

Israel had undergone a complete transformation during their time in the wilderness. Those gathered at the river were descendants of the generation that had left Egypt and traversed the wilderness. The only two exceptions were Joshua and Caleb (two of the former spies who believed God would deliver the promised land to Israel). Everything they knew had been passed down and now was the appointed time to cross the river. Everything would be new. Now had come the time to cross the Jordan River.  

We stand on the cusp of a new year. Everything that has happened is just that “happened”. There is no going back, just forward and, just like Israel, we “have not passed this way before”. Good or bad, 2022 is in the rearview mirror. Yet many Christians are paralyzed, allowing circumstances to have control. Just as Israel was coming to the end of one journey, a new one was about to begin. God was making it clear that He would guide them. The same is true today. We don’t know what the coming year holds but, God is already there, ready to show us the way He would have us to go. We do not have to be frozen in place.  

Let’s make this new year a fresh start because we “have never passed this way before”.  

Scott