Joshua 3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the LORD of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan
I was watching an interview on a news program, and at one point the interviewer said, “So, you think you have a corner on God?” As I recall, the person being interviewed had invoked God and that set off the ire of the interviewer. It sounded somewhat arrogant. What kind of person would say, “Yes, I have a corner on God.” If a person has any humility whatsoever, he will not feel like he has a corner on God. But that question, designed to silence the person from invoking God, was the wrong question entirely. The question is not, “Do you have a corner on God?” The question is, “Does God have a corner on you? Does God get to call the shots in your life?” I think that is what the interviewer objected to, the idea that God has any call whatsoever on anyone’s life.
We are living in a day where there is no truth except to possess a personal truth, such as my truth or your truth. Well, if it is my truth and your truth, then kindly, it is not truth. There has got to be truth, power, and wisdom beyond me and you. There is such a Power, and that is the God who made us. In Joshua 3-4 we are reminded that there is but one God. This God sent His Son to die for the sins of all people of all times and all locations. There is but one God. There is a God who gives an abundant, generous salvation but the way to receive it is as narrow as one Savior, the Lord Jesus.
So, in Joshua 3-4 God was leading Israel over the Jordan River into Canaan. Like He had done with the Red Sea, God literally and miraculously parted the waters of Jordan, and the Israelites continued on as God had directed them. Verse 11 says, “Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.” So, this is not just the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; this is the God who made the earth. This is the God who made the river and can part it. This is the God who made Canaan and can decide about it. He is the Lord of all the earth.
The Canaanites had myriad gods, a confusing mix and mash of adopted gods, gods of long ago, and invented gods. In the last verse of Joshua 4 it says, “That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God forever.” So, there are all the people of the earth and the Lord of all the earth. There is but one God.
There is but one God for every time. Maybe you look at the past and feel discouraged as Gideon once did. He said, “You hear these stories of how God worked in our grandparent’s lives. Where is God now?” In Joshua 3:7 the Lord said to Joshua, “This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” This is repeated a couple of times. In chapter 4 Israel was to build a memorial to help them remember what God had done. When their children would ask in time to come, “What does this memorial mean?” they were to remind them of God’s working in the past. So, there is but one God for every time, every generation.
There is but one God for every place. I am not saying He is recognized in every place. He may not even be recognized completely in every home. One person in the home may love the Lord and others do not yet know Him, but there is but one God for every place. Again, Joshua 3:13 says, “And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap.” God parted the waters that prohibited them from going into the land because God is God of every place. He was at the Red Sea, as referenced in Joshua 4:23, and He was at the Jordan River.
There is one God for every time and for every place. You are never going to be out of the care and knowledge of God no matter where you go. I am in Indiana this week, in Maine next week, and in Tennessee the week after that. I will never supersede the boundaries of a God who knows all, created all, and cares for all people. So, God is God of every place.
There is also one God for every person. Again, this is not to say that every person worships the Creator. It is to say that the God who provided for Moses is the God who provided for Joshua. That was good for Joshua to know. God said in Joshua 3:7, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” It is so easy to think, “I’m a different person. God helped those people in that time, but I don’t know if He would help me now. I’m a different person.” Of course, you are different, but God is the same God. The Bible says in Joshua 4:14, “On that day [the day God brought them over Jordan] the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.” Moses came and went; Joshua came and went; but God endures forever that all the people of the earth might know there is a God.
So, follow God today. Follow Him through uncharted waters, through contested territory, beyond today, and to any destination. There is but one God, and this is the God you can know and follow.