Gradually Then SuddenlySample

A GREAT DISTANCE AWAY

One of the most momentous days in the history of Israel was the miraculous parting of the Jordan River. After wandering in the wilderness for forty years, the people finally set foot in the Promised Land. They crossed the Jordan opposite Jericho, but that isn’t where the miracle happened.

Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam. (Joshua 3:15-16 NIV)

Adam was about sixteen miles upstream from Jericho. That is where the miracle happened. That is where the breakthrough began. Such is life!

Miracles often seem magical, but most miracles happen gradually then suddenly. Reverse-engineer them, and they almost always start sixteen miles upstream.

For better or for worse, what’s happening downstream is always the byproduct of what happened upstream. And that’s true in big and small ways.

Some people hesitate offering their opinion in the executive boardroom because of what happened in a fourth-grade classroom. They raised their hand, gave the wrong answer, and their classmates laughed out loud. The laughter died down, but it never really died. The feeling of embarrassment keeps them from taking risks three decades later.

The generosity of goodness also determines future outcomes. Choices made along the way matter. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much,and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10).

Long vision isn’t just the foresight to see far into the future. It’s hindsight that finds perspective in the distant past. It understands that history shapes destiny. It recognizes that testimony is prophecy. The purpose of this reading plan is to help you tap your future-tense potential, but you have to reconcile past-tense realities to do so.

Lord, help me trust that what You began upstream will bear fruit in Your timing. Heal my past and use it to shape the promises You’re unfolding in my future.