當克里斯．麥坎德利斯（Chris McCandless）離開文明世界，獨自進入阿拉斯加的荒野時，他以為能成功返回。但他渡過特克拉尼卡河深入荒野時，是在四月份，距離夏季冰雪融化還很早。幾個月後，麥坎德利斯食物耗盡，卻因冰雪融化，水流湍急而無法渡河，結果命喪荒野，永遠無法返回家園。他的悲慘故事後來被寫成書，並拍攝成電影。

古以色列人也必須渡過一條河，才能進入應許之地。那時，「約旦河水在收割的日子漲過兩岸」（約書亞記3章15節），但這項挑戰會使他們的信心增長。上帝告訴約書亞：「從今日起，我必使你在以色列眾人眼前尊大，使他們知道我怎樣與摩西同在，也必照樣與你同在。」（7節）

約書亞告訴百姓：「普天下主的約櫃必在你們前頭過去，到約旦河裡」（11節）。當抬約櫃的祭司踏入約旦河，「那從上往下流的水」便停住，所有百姓都走乾地過河（15-17節）。

我們經常會面臨「渡河」的處境，但在看似不可能跨越的困境中，當我們轉向那位開道路的上帝，便能增長我們的信心。其中最重要的一次「渡河」，就是從今生進入來世。無論我們的境遇如何，那位與摩西、約書亞和以色列民同在的上帝，也會為我們開道路。

When Chris McCandless wandered off the grid and into the Alaskan wilderness, he expected to return. But he crossed the Teklanika in April, well before summer ice-melt would swell that river into an impassable torrent. Months later, out of food, McCandless couldn’t get back. His tragic death is memorialized in book and film.

The people of ancient Israel faced a crucial river crossing in order to enter the promised land. However, “the Jordan [was] at flood stage” (Joshua 3:15), a challenge that would grow their faith. God told Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses” (v. 7).

Joshua told the people, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you” (v. 11). Taking the ark, the priests stepped into the Jordan, and “the water from upstream stopped flowing” (vv. 15-16). The entire nation stepped across on a dry riverbed (v. 17).

From time to time we’ll face “river crossings”—impossible situations that can grow our faith if we’ll turn to the one who makes the way across. The greatest of these crossings is from this life into the next. No matter what it is, the God who was with Moses, Joshua, and the Israelites also makes a way for us.