He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot… Psalm 66:6

When Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea, they walked with walls of water on either side of them. They followed their leader.

When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Holy Land, they had to walk through the river at flood stage after God made the waters recede.

Through. They had to walk THROUGH the waters.

God didn’t transport them to the other side. They didn’t have to make a bridge. He didn’t provide boats for over a million people.

They walked in the middle of the tempest—their storm, so to speak.

I’m sure not all of God’s people were rejoicing as they went through those walls of water. Some may have rejoiced, some may have been scared, some may have been in awe and some probably didn’t know what to think.

One of my favorite passages is Isaiah 43:2, which in part says: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you…

We all go through times of difficulty in our lives, and some of those times seem like we are in the middle of a tempest.

There are times when we have to go through the waters.

And just like when God told Joshua to have the priests go into the Jordan River at flood stage, and we are sure that we might drown, sometimes we have to get our feet wet before the Lord makes the waters recede so that we can walk through.

But we will get through it with His help and His leading!

Just as in Isaiah 43, God is with us. And when He leads us through, we should be like Moses and Miriam who sang to the Lord. They rejoiced!

When God brings us to the other side, there is nothing to do but praise Him for bringing us through the waters.

–by Pam Rehbein