Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 1
The speaker highlights God’s timing by noting the Jordan was “overflowed all its banks” at wheat harvest and about a mile wide—what does choosing *that* moment reveal about God’s intentions for Israel’s faith, and how does that confront our desire for safer, more manageable obedience?
Another way to ask: Why do you think God chose the most dangerous time—when the Jordan was flooding—to have Israel cross? How does that challenge our wish to obey God only when it feels safe and easy?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the speaker’s teaching, God chose the hardest, most impossible-looking moment to cross so Israel would know their future depended on His supernatural power, not manageable circumstances. That confronts our desire to obey only when we can still control the outcome.
- The river was at flood stage: “the Jordan overflowed all its banks…about the time of wheat harvest,” and the speaker adds it would have been “about a mile wide.”
- He stresses the scale of the problem: not “a small group,” but “a nation,” possibly “around 2 million people,” plus “possessions…animals.”
- The crossing required divine intervention: “at that instant, the Jordan stopped flowing, and all the people crossed over on dry ground…a supernatural work of God.”
- He frames it as conditional faith: Israel had “requirements…conditions,” and when God’s power is “combined…with our faith and obedience, what follows is supernatural.”
- He applies it to us: “sometimes it’s good to just go ahead and obey…even if it doesn’t make sense. That’s faith.”