Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities

Whenever the presence of God was at the Holy of Holies there would be a cloud that covered the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud lifted it was time for the Israelites to move on.

According to Numbers 10, when it was time for them to move, the 12 tribes of Israel had to line up a certain way.

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God instructed Moses to command the people to have 6 tribes of Israel in front, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.

Then the Holy Things from the tabernacle were put in line, including the Ark of the Covenant.

Then the rest of the tribes followed, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.

Whenever God decided to move the people had to move. Each time God decided to stop the tabernacle had to be set up and each time God decided to go the tabernacle had to be taken down.

God might decide to stay a day, a week or a month and He might decide to travel for a day, a week or a month.

Whenever God chose to leave or stay, the people had to follow and it was that way for forty years.

40 years of wandering around in the wilderness because the people failed to trust God when they first arrived at the border of the Promised Land. So God punished that generation and promised the next generation the land.

During those 40 years in the wilderness God dwelt with the people of Israel, He never abandoned them, and when He stopped, His presence would rest upon the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.

When the 40 years had passed the Israelites found themselves once again at the border of the Promised Land and God was about to teach them something new.

God was about to take them from the place they were to the place they were supposed to be.

They were at the border, Moses was dead and Joshua was now the leader, and they were ready to take the land that God had promised only there was a problem, there was an obstacle in their way.

The Jordan River was out of its banks. The area was flooded.

The river was 150 feet at its deepest point and over a mile wide.

An obstacle.

But this time the people of Israel were not going to let anything stand in the way of God’s promises.

There are three things that Joshua and the Israelites did that turned their obstacle into an opportunity. And these same three things can be used by us to do the same thing.

1. Give the Ark a new position.

2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it." Joshua 3:2-4 NIV

For 40 years the Ark of the Covenant was position in the middle of the tribes of Israel.

Now God changes it up and tells them that it is time to reposition the Ark. He says, “Put it out front and follow it.”

We need to understand the importance of this because we cannot lose the presence of God. The Ark represents the presence of God.