“Consecrate Yourselves!”

“Consecrate Yourselves!”(Jos.3:12-17).
“Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.” So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”
Like we said yesterday, the LORD wants to use you to do amazing things. We may ask, “If the LORD is omnipotent and omniscient, why could he not have stopped the flow of the Jordan without the priests?” After all, he is “the LORD of all the earth.”
There is one lesson some parents learn when it is already too late: They made the children lazy by providing everything the children wanted. They failed to teach the children responsibility and the importance of work. God does not want to make us overspoiled brats. He does amazing things for us through us.
In the case above, the LORD had to use the priests carrying the ark of the covenant to stop the flow of the Jordan by their feet touching the water’s edge.
The LORD uses those who by faith are emboldened by throwing their fears to the winds. “The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”
Those priests risked their lives without asking, ‘What if…?” Other people would have said, “Ma’ ṅkö tu!” – “Any man for himself!”
My friend, there’s a lot of amazing things the LORD can do for others through us. Let us make ourselves available to him without any constraints. “Let us consecrate ourselves” for the LORD to use us and make us instruments of his love and grace!
Secondly, each time we are about to drown ourselves in the pool of helplessness, the LORD is there to stop any flowing Jordan so that we can cross over to safety away from our enemies.
Weekend prayer: LORD, when we tread the verge of Jordan, bid our anxious fears to subside and land us safe on Canaan’s side. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you! Merry Christmas and a fulfilling New Year!
Rev Babila Fochang.
17/01/2026.