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Recently, I found myself in a situation that I had never encountered, and I uttered the phrase, “I am in uncharted waters!” Immediately the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “Aren’t you glad I am the captain of your ship!” The idiom, “Uncharted waters,” comes from marine navigation. A nautical chart is used to represent sea and coastal areas, showing features such as the depth of water, navigational hazards, information on tides and currents, etc. These tools are essential for safe marine navigation. An area of water that is uncharted could be a difficult or dangerous situation for the captain of a ship. In this life, we will often find ourselves in uncharted waters. Every day we encounter situations that are new to us, however they are not new to God. God is never caught off guard, and all the water has been charted by Him.
Instead of trying to sail ourselves through these unfamiliar waters, we must ensure that Jesus is at the helm of our ship. He will navigate us through the toughest of times with ease. In Joshua chapter 3 the children of Israel find themselves in an unfamiliar place. Joshua 3:1-4, “And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over; 2 And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host; 3 And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
God commands them to follow behind the ark of covenant carried by the priests and Levites. They are to stay behind the ark at least a half a mile. Soon they approach the swelling Jordan River. The river formed a barrier between them and the promise land, what they saw by the light of day was both confusing and dreadful. The Jordan was defiantly uncrossable! It was harvest season and the Jordan overflows her banks. Currents in the river can reach up to 40 miles per hour. The river is also surrounded by tangled brush and dense growth. One could easily drown crossing the river in depths ranging from 3 to 12 feet.
The Bible tells us that they spent the next three days right there, the passing torrent eroding all confidence. The waiting pounded reality into every Israelite. You could hear the doubts over night fires: “Maybe the strong among us can brave this flood, but how can we cross with infants, with the sickly, with the aged, not to mention all our possessions strapped to wagons?” An insistent “no” began to form in their hearts as they listened to the roar of the water. They were definitely in uncharted waters and reality was setting in that they may not be able to cross the raging river. Have you ever felt that level of desperation?
It’s easy for us to relate to the emotions and thoughts of Israel. So many of us face “personal Jordans” that feel so permanent and powerful that we don’t even try to make it across. Our lives feel stalled, stuck on the wrong side of God’s promises. We read about the abundant life but can’t make it out of the wilderness. God can turn a “no way” into a highway! Allow Him to captain your ship! As the priest and Levites stood with their feet in the edge of the water a miracle took place. Joshua 3:15-17, “15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) 16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. 17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. They passed over on dry ground as the Lord divided the waters. We must make sure that the Lord is before us, and we follow His lead. God will sail you through the uncharted waters. Charles Spurgeon said on June 23, 1872, “Your present pathway is new to you, but it is not new to your God.”
(Brandon Young is pastor of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton)