Thurs.’s Devo - Crossing Jordan

Read: Joshua 3:1-4:24; Luke 14:7-35; Psalm 80:1-19; Proverbs 12:27-28
It was the day they were going to cross the Jordan River. It was the time of the year in which the river was overflowing its banks. God loves to show himself strong in the midst of impossible situations.
Joshua told the leaders of the tribes to come to the front and wait for the priest who were carrying the ark to go first. They were to stay a thousand yards behind the priests. When the priests feet stepped into the water the water would stop flowing and stand up like a wall upstream. All the nations who had spies watching would see the power of their god and be afraid. Also, the Israelites would recognize that God was exalting Joshua to be their leader.
When the priest got in the middle of the Jordan they stood and waited as the rest of Israel crossed. Each tribal leader was to pick up a stone out of the floor of the Jordan and carry it to the other side. It would stand as a memorial for generations to come. As soon as the priests stepped onto the other side of the Jordan, it burst forth with water.
God was teaching them to have memorials to remember what God had done for them in the past. We should do the same by writing down things the Lord does for us so we can leave it for our children’s children to read.
In Luke, Jesus was at the home of a Pharisee and he noticed how they fought for the important seats. Jesus told them that it would go better for them if they chose to let someone else give them that position other than themselves It might backfire if they exalted themselves.
Then, Jesus told a parable about a person giving the party and said that instead of inviting those that could reciprocate, he should ask those who can’t. He told another parable about a man who had a wedding feast and everyone of his friends that he invited had excuses why they couldn’t come. He went out and invited the poor and outcasts of society to fill their seats.
All of Jesus parables were teaching so much more than humility and honor. They were showing the Pharisees what God was doing in their generation. They had spent their lives trying to exalt themselves in front of man. They had invited the elite of society to be their priests and be a part of their religion, while making the rest of the people feel like outcasts. Because of their blindness about spiritual things, they would miss their invitation and it would be given to the very people the Pharisees thought were unworthy.