The Great Navigator
If you know anything about me you know I love a good narrative, I'm a huge story buff and an avid reader (I thank my nana and mom for this trait), and this love for narratives doesn't stop when it comes to scripture. I think this is why Joshua, Judges, and Acts are some of my favorite books of the Bible, because they tell a story. I love the feeling of being dropped into the middle of what God was doing in believer and non-believers lives alike because gives us such a taste of the nearness of God and His unchanging character!
It is no surprise by now that I moved to Virginia in February. I didn't move for a job, a boy, or school... I just... moved. 500 miles away from my friends, family, and community. Just packed up and moved. I wasn't exactly sure why I moved, the only thing I knew is that God told me to, so I did. The God that has called me out of darkness into wonderful light called me out of Ohio and into Virginia, a dream of mine since 8th grade.
When people ask me why I moved I feel as though I am still trying to verbalize God's call to move without simply saying, because God told me to so I did, because that in-and-of-itself feels like a classic cliché Christian answer, though it's no less the truth. Yet, let's not sit in the cliché, let's flesh out what God is doing.
The purpose for this blog is not to ramble, though I feel I often do, but to encourage you to step out in faith wherever God is leading you to, even if that's just across the street to that neighbor, to a different church, a different job, a new relationship, or any of the other nuances in between.
"When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before..." Joshua 3:3b-4a
Recently I've been chewing on Joshua 3, and though I have written a blog on this book before, even this chapter, this blog will focus on a different portion of this event -- the command, direction, and reassurance of God found in verses 3b-4a. Now, I am by no means saying that I am a Levitical priest, that I'm carrying anything nearly as holy as the Ark of the Covenant, or even that this passage was written to Devon in 2022, nevertheless I am struck with three things the Lord requires of Joshua: move out, follow, then you will know. Joshua wasn't told "this is where you are going to end up, here is the path to take, now move" no! He was told to move out and follow first, not second, because this is what it looks like to walk in faith! It looks like not having all the answers but boldly following the One who does.
We see this time and time again in scripture, where God's people are being directed and redirected without a sure fact of where they are going or where they will end up (Exodus 40:36-37 for example), yet they walk in faith knowing that their God is faithful.
I often wonder if Hebrews 11 was written today if the Lord would have mentioned me, if I would be known for my great faith? Not for the sake of being known, but for the sake of knowing Him so intimately that I was willing to follow Him wherever He would call me to go, to whoever He would call me to go to. If this moment and this move would be a part of a faith story of the great faith I had in an even greater God. Anyways, I could go through all the ins and outs of my desire to be known as a woman of great faith but I will keep it here and plan for a blog about my hearts desire to be a "Hebrews 11 woman" later (keep an eye out!).
This move was the Lord clearly calling me to move out and follow, though I didn't know where it would lead, and in all reality still don't understand it all, I know the God of Joshua is the same God I am following in faith today. I moved, I followed, and now I am waiting for the Lord to clearly reveal the way to go, since I have never been this way before. I have seen my God be faithful when I paused school and moved to Texas, when I left my camp in Ohio to work for a camp in Michigan, and I know He will be faithful once more here in Virginia because He has proven that His character is that of unchanging faithfulness.
My dear beloved reader, I don't know what the Lord is calling you to move out from and follow in, but I do know that our God is ever faithful, ever present, and ever guiding. Follow Him, for He is the great navigator.
Unknown - Mosaic
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