Life Lessons

Isn't it amazing that you can read the same Bible passage again and again, and still discover new things in it? But sometimes it's the opposite that happens, and it's the old lessons that come flooding back to your mind. This weekend, while reading in Joshua chapter three, I opened my journal and made a note of four principles that stood out to me as I read. As I paused to look back over my notes and pray, I was struck by the fact that these were not new insights; they were "life lessons" - things that had cropped up several times over my lifetime. I could remember writing some of them in a notebook way back when I was a teenager. I could remember when one of the verses had been significant in a time of personal decision making in 1985. I reflected on the time God used that passage to speak to us as a ministry in early 2000...

Do you have verses or passages like that? They played an important role in your journey with God, and when you re-read them, you are reminded of some of the life lessons that God has taught you throughout your lifetime? Here are four of my recurring life lessons that God has taught me through the events of Joshua chapter three. (It's the story of how the waters of the Jordan river part, in order to allow the people to walk across and enter the Promised Land.)

Vs 4 - when you're in unknown territory ( you haven't been this way before) it's particularly important to follow God's guidance, and not rush ahead too fast.

Vs 5 - intentional purity is a prerequisite for seeing the power of God work in you and through you.

Vs 8, 15 - 16 - sometimes you need to take a seemingly risky step of faith (the priests needed to step into the flooding river before a path appeared) before the way ahead becomes completely clear.

Vs 6, 17 - leaders need to be willing to take such steps,of faith, and also willing to hang in there and see the task through to completion.

These four lessons from Joshua chapter three are insights that I have built my life around when it comes to hearing God's voice and taking steps of faith? What are some of your life lessons, either from Bible stories or from the stories and events of your own life?