“Jehovah Blesses Those Who Show Faith” (10 min.)
Today most people confuse what faith is. Have you heard some say they have faith in that doctor? Or that they have faith in that particular kind of medicine? As students of the Bible we know that faith is having absolute confidence in relation to God's promises. For that reason, we will talk about this topic from Treasures of the Bible: Jehovah Blesses Those Who Show Faith.
We will analyze that faith is not only saying that one has that faith, but that as the title of this speech says, we must demonstrate faith and by doing so, Jehovah blesses. We have clear demonstrations of what it means to show faith and for this we are going to use the example given here in the Activities Guide in relation to Israel.
They already had in mind now what they had to do at Jehovah's command, conquer Jericho. The only thing that divided them now from reaching that goal was the Jordan River. However, depending on the geography of the place, it indicated that at the time that Jehovah was requesting them to cross the Jordan River, it was a time when the river was higher than normal.
It generally had a depth of 1 to 3 meters through the sector where they were possibly going to pass. Can you imagine going across the river with men, women and children? What did Jehovah do to show him that they had faith?
Remember that it was a new generation that was going to pass. It was not the same generation, generally, that they had seen crossing the Red Sea. Now they were people who had no idea what Jehovah could do.
LET'S READ: Joshua 3: 12,13
Now choose 12 men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe, 13 and, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth touch the waters of the Jordan, the waters from the Jordan that come from above will stop like a dam ”.
The priests who are going to do this work may not have seen the miracle of the Red Sea, but now they had to show that they had faith in Jehovah, as they did, by approaching with the ark on their shoulders. And hit the water as Jehovah had told them.
At times Jehovah may ask us to do something that we have never done, that we have never experienced. But if Jehovah requests it, it is because one: he knows that we are prepared to do it and another that Jehovah wants to see how much faith we say we have in those moments.
LET'S READ: Joshua 3:14
So when the people left the place where they were camped, just before crossing the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went to the front of the people.
Undoubtedly, for these priests, also as ordinary human beings, although they were leading the congregation, for them it must also have been a demonstration of their faith to walk in the direction of the river that was overflowing.
They must have thought and if we get to the river and it doesn't stop, what will happen? Are we going to drown? We are going to die? What will happen to the Ark? How many things must have gone through the heads of these priests and of course, those who came after the people were also observing if they either stopped or continued.
At this point we want to be very clear as well. Jehovah expects those leading the way in the congregation to show their trust in God first.
There will be new instructions, there will be new ways to do certain things, as now we have a new method of giving Bible studies, so many of us can think, Will it work? Are they asking us for something we've never done? Will be worth? Will it have the backing of Jehovah? and so many other things.
But when in the congregation. Those in the lead are doing it, everyone else is watching. And if they do it, we want to do it too. For these priests, touching the waters and seeing that they stopped must have been something sensational. An emotion to see how the waters stopped higher and the rest that passed by continued their journey.
The results were that their faith undoubtedly grew much more and the people were acknowledging that they had Jehovah's support. However, we've talked a little bit about those in the lead, who should be the first to show their faith. However, what about the rest of God's people?
LET'S READ: Joshua 3: 15,17
As soon as those carrying the Ark reached the Jordan and the priests carrying the Ark dipped their feet into the river bank (it turns out that the Jordan overflows every day of the harvest), 16 the waters that came from above were stopped. They rose like a dam far away, in Adam, the city near Zaretan, while the waters that flowed down to the Arabá Sea, the Salty Sea, dried up. The waters were held back and the people crossed to the other side, facing Jericho. 17 While the priests carrying the ark of the Lord's covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, all Israel crossed to the other side on dry ground, until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan.
In these verses we clearly demonstrate that not only the priests or those who led were the only ones who had to demonstrate their faith. It was also everyone else, the whole town. In the congregation, the elders did the ministerial, they are the first to enforce the new instructions. But what about the others? We can't just wait.
But we want to show Jehovah that we want to give him something to bless. Let him see that we don't just say we have faith. We all want to continue doing the same. Let's give to the maximum. Let us imitate the example of these Israelites, both the priests and all the people who demonstrated their trust in Jehovah.
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