A lot can happen in 3 days and God can do a lot in 3 days.
God had spoken to Joshua after Moses’ death and told him to be ‘strong and courageous’, repeated four times to drive home the absolute need for this. Joshua 1:6,7,9, 18 The years of wandering through the desert were over, it was a new day.
10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 ‘Go through the camp and tell the people, “Get your provisions ready. THREE DAYS FROM NOW YOU WILL CROSS THE JORDAN HERE TO GO IN AND TAKE POSSESSION of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.”’ Joshua 1
God didn’t discuss this, nor make a suggestion; He just commanded Joshua to be ‘Bold and Courageous’ and Joshua relayed the message to the people. ‘Three Days’ from now ‘YOU Will Cross Over’. It wasn’t a long time to prepare for such a major undertaking, but it was enough time! Things may happen suddenly and unexpectedly in this life, but God will bring us through Grace if we keep trusting Him and moving forward. Israel were never supposed to be in the desert for forty years, but they disobeyed God and lost out.
In an earlier day, while Joseph was imprisoned in Egypt, two servants of the King came to him with their dreams. The chief cupbearer’s dream signalled his restoration to the King’s service. The chief baker also had a dream, but his dream foretold his life’s end. Both dreams were fulfilled in the same time frame, just three days. The word of the King meant life for one and death for the other. Same time, but different destinies, all by the word of the King.
Another well known Old Testament character was Jonah (the man who swallowed the whale, as some people tease the children). Jonah was commanded by God to go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim a message of judgement to them, but they were enemies of his people and he didn’t go. Instead he fled to Joppa and got on a boat for Tarshish. Jonah was about to learn a hard lesson, God sent a storm (storms can be God’s way of getting us to listen) and Jonah was thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish. He should have died but God sent the fish and Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish. Three days later it deposited him on dry land. Jonah learnt obedience in the belly of the fish. The story of Jonah is repeated in the Matthew and Luke’s gospels, relating to Jesus crucifixion and resurrection.
39 He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12
God had his way with Jonah, the reluctant evangelist, but also used him to represent the coming experience of Christ. What a mighty God we serve.
Tell God today that you love Him and want to go on His path for your life, no matter how difficult that may seem. His word will bring you through, just like Joshua and Israel.
God bless and keep you today.