Don't Quit Before Your Miracle Happens!

Written by Brookelynn Harper, Fellowship Bible Church Celebrate Recovery, Rogers, "The Landing" Resident, 12/30/20

Joshua 3:5 has become one of my favorite Bible verses. It comes right after the Israelites had been wandering in a desert without direction for 40 years. Moses – their leader and guide - had just died. They didn’t really know what they were doing, or where to go next, but God raised up this new leader Joshua. It had been three days, and they were waiting just one river away from the land that God had promised them.

The Israelites had tried to enter this land before and failed – before Moses had died. The people living across the river were scary, and up to this point the Israelites hadn’t even been able to face up to the idea of trying to stand against them. Now they were ready but had to wait until they could figure out how to get their entire people across the river.

              There are times that I feel so close to a goal I can taste it. Then suddenly something happens, and it feels like there’s a river between me and it. I don’t see any progress, I’m getting antsy, and I don’t see relief coming from anywhere. I’ll start to doubt the progress that I’ve already made.  It’s like I’m just wandering around in circles like those Israelites had been doing. At that point, it feels safer for me to just set up camp and wallow in my hopelessness than to actually expect things to get better.

              I hate that feeling, I hate the frustration that comes with it. I hate waiting. I hate not seeing any change happening in my circumstances or in my life. And I hate turning around and seeing that same problem that I thought I was done with, but is actually still a shadow behind me.

But I don’t have to be stuck in it forever and neither did the Israelites. The first time they waited at the river, they had run away. But the second time, something had changed. They were preparing to cross. And that’s when Joshua 3:5 comes into play:

 “Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, because the LORD will do wonders among you tomorrow.’”

              There are two things that make this so significant. First, it showed that all that wandering in the wilderness wasn’t for nothing. It had been a consequence of something that they had done, yes. But it also taught them to trust more fully in God. Whereas before they had run away from the river, fearing what the other side might be like, now they were preparing to walk across it to face the other side.

The second is that this verse helps me know what to do when I don’t see anything happening in my life. Waiting isn’t the same as being helpless and hopeless. When the people of Israel were waiting to cross, they began the act of consecration.

That just means they were preparing their hearts, minds, their relationships, and even their belongings for the journey they were about to take. They were making sure that they were in right standing with God, so that when He showed up they would be ready.

Often, I can’t change how long my wait will be. However, I can answer this question: will I wait in hopelessness, or will I wait in expectation? Will I keep working my recovery and pressing into what I know will heal, even when I can’t see the healing happening today? When I actively prepare for God to come in my life, the wait has a purpose to it, and can be a part of the healing that God is preparing me for in the future. To me, that’s something worth waiting for.

As we say at Celebrate Recovery, don’t quit before your miracle happens!!

Click HERE to listen to "Rise Up (Lazurus)" by Cain!