They Prepare You for Them

Here’s something that might surprise you about the story in Joshua 4: after God performed the impossible miracle of stopping the Jordan River at flood stage, the Israelites didn’t sit back and relax. They crossed over armed for battle – 40,000 people ready for war.

This teaches us something crucial: miracles don’t eliminate battles. They prepare us for the battles.

So many times God performs a miracle and our human brains are like, “Whew, okay, well, we can sit back now.” That’s not what happened here. God’s miraculous events in our lives prepare us for the challenges that come after.

I think about the expactant moms house we’re working on for the girls. God miraculously gave us that house for expectant mothers who choose life instead of abortion. But that miracle prepared me for the battles that had to come after. There were electrical issues with the house, and part of me thought, “How are we going to do this?” Then God provided again – an electrician to completely rewire the house.

See the pattern? God’s miracles often get us to a place where we now have new battles to fight. We have new things we have to deal with. Yesterday’s miracles become today’s strengths for tomorrow’s challenges.

James Boyce said something I love about this: “It’s more important that God have our hearts and minds than our swords.” God wanted the people to see that He was the one providing the miraculous entry into enemy territory. But He’s not foolishly saying go over there unprepared.

Because here’s the reality: when God delivers us and gets us to a new place, that’s often new battlegrounds we’re called to fight. Our breakthroughs become our new battle lines.

Notice something else important: as soon as the priests’ feet hit the western bank, the waters rushed back. There’s no going back unless you’re swimming down a raging river at flood stage. You’re moving forward now into enemy territory – they’re literally in the shadow of Jericho.

When God closes a chapter, don’t try to reopen it. That will only lead to your suffering.

God’s miracles have divine timing. They got just what they needed, when they needed it, for exactly as long as they needed it. And then it was time to move forward into what He had prepared next.

The cycle is beautiful: miracle, memorial, faith for more miracles. Don’t skip the memorial step. Some of you are stuck waiting on a miracle in your life because you never stopped to erect a memorial and thank God for His faithfulness.

I’m going to give you a really dumb example from my life. When we got Amber her car – it wasn’t new, but it was new to us – it was the first car we’d had since going into ministry that didn’t have a check engine light on when we got it. Every time I would walk by, I would say, “God, thank you for this piece of black metal.” I didn’t want it to get too elevated in my head. It’s just a piece of metal that gets her from point A to point B. But I am thankful that my wife can get in it and go anywhere she wants without me worrying about her being on the side of the road.

Questions for Reflection:

What miracle are you waiting for that might actually be preparing you for a new battle? How can you prepare your heart and mind, not just for the miracle, but for what comes after?