With Joshua as the new leader of the Israelites, the Lord helped them to know that He was with Joshua by performing a miracle similar to Moses parting the Red Sea.
In Joshua 3:13 the Lord prophesied:
“And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.”
The Israelites exercised their faith by marching down to the waters of the Jordan River and sure enough, as the Lord had prophesied, when the priests who were carrying the ark (who were in the front) had dipped their feet into the river, the waters receded and the Israelites walked over the dry river bed to the other side.
What I love about this account is that it teaches us a very important lesson about how God performs miracles among us.
The lesson is that we need to exercise faith first before the miracle happens.
God didn’t say to the Israelites; “Come to the river, I’ll make the waters to part, and then you can walk over.”
Instead He asked them to begin the journey (i.e. dip their feet in the water) and then He would make the waters to part.
In my own life, I have seen miracles happen when I do my part by doing all I can. After I do, the Lord does the rest as I put my trust in Him.
Life is like that. Nothing ever goes as planned. If you wait for everything to be just right before you move forward with something, you will never get anything done. Here’s just one example of what I’m talking about…
Imagine a single man who wants to get married. He is dating different women and is waiting to find the one who will meet each and every one of his expectations.
Or imagine a young married couple who want to have children but they want to wait until just the right time when they have a nice home, a good income, and enough time to focus on raising their children.
One final example, let’s imagine a person who is considering being baptised but wants to wait until they know everything about the gospel and are 100% sure it is the right thing to do.
In the last example, that will never happen. You will never be able to know everything about the gospel and be 100% sure that baptism is the right thing to do UNTIL you have committed to it. And sometimes you won’t know until AFTER you’ve been baptised.
This goes along with what Jesus taught:
“If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:17)
Note that the Lord doesn’t say that if you study, ponder and pray you will know of the doctrine. He specifically says if we DO his will we will know of the doctrine.
It’s in the taking of action, of exercising faith by doing, that God then can work with us.
As we show our commitment, God is then willing and able to help us. That is when the miracles occur.
I’ve noticed over the years that God has been able to do miracles through me. They may not be miracles like making waters to part, or raising of the dead, but they are miracles.
Through my faith and good works, I’ve been able to help people to make changes in their lives which have been a great blessing to them. And I’m sure that there are some miracles which have been done through God magnifying my works which I’m not even aware of.