When God Goes First: Crossing Your Jordan With Confidence

Sometimes life corners you with a moment you can’t sidestep. Something big. Something unfamiliar. Something that makes you think, “I’ve never been here before.”

A diagnosis you didn’t expect.

A decision you don’t feel ready to make.

A transition you didn’t ask for.

Israel knew that feeling. Standing at the edge of the Jordan River, they weren’t just staring at water, they were staring at the unknown. They were stepping into territory they had never walked, facing battles they had never fought, and chasing promises they had only heard in stories.

Into that uncertainty, Joshua delivered one of the most stabilizing truths in all of Scripture: “Today you will know that the living God is among you.” (Joshua 3:10)


God Goes Ahead of You
Israel wasn’t just up against a river. They were up against the “ITES”—Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites—seven nations physically stronger, culturally established, and historically intimidating.

But Joshua lifted their eyes to a bigger reality: “Look! The Ark of the covenant of the Ruler of the whole earth is getting ready to go ahead of you.” (Joshua 3:11)

This has always been the pattern of God’s kingdom. He moves first. He prepares the way. He fights the battle before His people ever lift a sword.

When God goes first, fear loses its leverage.


Where the Waters Stop Matters
When Israel approached the Jordan River, Scripture gave a surprisingly specific detail: “The water above that point began backing up a great distance away at a town called Adam.” (Joshua 3:16)

This isn’t poetic coincidence. It’s prophetic design.

The waters didn’t stop just anywhere. They rolled back to Adam—the name that represents old humanity, old bondage, and the brokenness we inherited from the beginning. Right beside Adam sat Zarethan, a name meaning “distress.” And the rest of the water drained down into the Dead Sea—the picture of dead works, empty striving, and lifeless cycles.

Then the riverbed dried up completely.

A finished work.

A fresh path.

A picture of the new covenant carved right into the landscape.

The message was unmistakable: The grip of the old life was broken. Distress lost its voice. Dead works lost their power. God’s people walked forward in freedom.

Long before Jesus arrived in Bethlehem, the gospel was already preaching.


Why God Commands a Memorial
After Israel crossed, God instructed Joshua to gather twelve stones from the riverbed to build a memorial and another pile of stones was left buried beneath the water.

One memorial was visible: “This is what God brought us through.”
The other remained hidden: “This is what God buried forever.”

Remembering matters.

When you forget what God has done, faith bends. When you remember, you stand tall again. This is why Scripture calls us back to remembrance again and again: it strengthens our faith, it steadies our hearts, and it roots us in the God who never fails His people.


Before Jericho Falls, Something in Us Must Fall
In Joshua 5, all the young men born during the wilderness journey were circumcised. It seemed like a strange, painful delay right before battle — but spiritually, it was perfect timing.

The previous generation carried a slave mindset. They were free on paper but not free in practice.
God refused to let the next generation walk into promise with the identity of captivity.

God declared: “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” (Joshua 5:9)

Before Jericho’s walls fell, shame had to fall first.

Paul later echoed the same truth: we are dead to sin’s power, crucified with Christ, renewed in our minds, and marked by a circumcision of the heart. God cuts away what doesn’t belong so His people can walk boldly into what does.


What God Wants You To See
God delights when you choose to see your life through His kingdom lens. As you do, your past loses its authority, shame loses its voice, and the wilderness loses its grip. You stop living like a slave trying to earn approval and start living like a child walking in the freedom Jesus already secured.

The God who led Israel through the Jordan is the same God leading you now. He hasn’t lost a battle yet, and He isn’t about to start.