The big day was just one day away! Over fourteen thousand days (40 years) had passed since the Israelites had begun their journey. The next day they would finally cross over into the Promised Land.(1)
i don’t know the details of your particular journey, but i would venture that you have not been waiting for forty years to cross over into God’s promise. i also do not know where you are in your journey – you may be at that place that you are preparing to cross over into the place God has promised you – or you may still have a ways to go. But be mindful that no matter where you are, you have not passed this way before.
Just like the Israelites, we are journeying into the unknown. There are barriers ahead – those we can see (like the Jordan River and the walls surrounding the city of Jericho), and those we have not yet seen. There are adversaries ahead – those that will be obvious (like the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites and the rest of the “ites”) and those that will not be so obvious (like the Gibeonites(2)). God has never said that His promise ahead would be absent of barriers and adversaries. However, He has said that He will never leave us nor forsake us.(3) And just like His promise to the Israelites as they stood on the banks of the Jordan River, He has promised that He will go before us and go with us. He had always gone before them – and once more He was promising to always be – their Way Maker….