Have you ever found yourself wondering why a season in your life lasted so much longer than you expected? I know I have. There have been times when I knew God had spoken a promise, but the journey between the promise and the fulfillment seemed endless.

As I've studied the journey of the children of Israel—from Moses to Joshua—I have realized that God wasn't simply trying to get His people into a promised land. He was preparing a people who could steward the promise once they arrived. I believe He is still doing the same thing with us today.

The Wilderness Was Never the Destination

In Exodus, God instructed Moses to lead His people out of bondage and into the wilderness so they could worship Him. The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land should have only taken about eleven days. Instead, it lasted forty years. Why?

It wasn't because God failed. It wasn't because His promise changed. It was because although Israel had been delivered out of Egypt, Egypt had not yet been removed from their hearts. I think we can all relate to that.

Sometimes God delivers us from old places, but our thinking, attitudes, fears, and habits are still shaped by where we've been. The Israelites constantly complained, longed for what was familiar, and resisted God's process. Their wilderness became much longer than God had ever intended.

I've learned that God often allows wilderness seasons because they teach us something prosperity never can—dependence upon Him.

Every morning God faithfully provided manna. Every single day they had to trust Him again. They couldn't store it up for tomorrow. They had to believe He would provide all over again.

Isn't that how God often works with us? He gives us exactly what we need for today while teaching us to trust Him for tomorrow.

A New Leader for a New Season

When we arrive in Joshua chapter one, everything changes.

Moses is gone. Joshua is now leading the people. God tells Joshua: "Arise, go over this Jordan...to the land which I am giving to them." The promise hadn't changed. The season had. Joshua instructed the people to prepare provisions because within three days they would cross the Jordan and possess the inheritance God had promised them. That detail has always stood out to me.

For forty years God had provided everything for them in the wilderness. Now He tells them to prepare. God was preparing them to move from surviving into possessing.

Consecration Comes Before Breakthrough

Before they crossed the Jordan, Joshua gave another instruction: "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." I don't think that command was accidental.

The Hebrew word for consecrate is qadash. It means to set apart, to make holy, to dedicate yourself to God, and to prepare yourself for His purposes.

For Israel this meant:

• Washing themselves and their clothes as an outward picture of inward cleansing.

• Abstaining from certain activities for a season.

• Removing anything ceremonially unclean.

• Renewing their commitment to obey God.

• Coming before Him with reverence and expectation.

God wasn't simply preparing them to cross a river. He was preparing their hearts to receive an inheritance. I wonder how often we ask God for breakthrough while resisting the preparation that comes before it. Sometimes we want God to change our circumstances, while He's first asking Him to change us.

God Often Chooses the Impossible

Joshua 3 tells us something fascinating. The Jordan River was overflowing its banks. If I had been there, I probably would have questioned God's timing. 

"Couldn't we cross next month?"

"Couldn't You wait until the water goes down?"

But that's not how God works. He often waits until the situation looks impossible so that when He moves, everyone knows it was Him. The priests stepped into the flooded Jordan carrying the Ark of the Covenant—the very presence of God—and the waters stopped. God had parted the Red Sea for the previous generation. Now He was parting the Jordan for the next generation. The miracle was different. The God who performed it was the same.

If you're facing impossible waters today, don't assume God has forgotten you. Sometimes the obstacle standing in front of you becomes the very stage where God displays His faithfulness.

Remember What God Has Done

After everyone crossed safely, God instructed Joshua to have twelve men take twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan.Those stones became a memorial.

Every generation that came afterward would see those stones and remember what God had done.

I don't know about you, but I need memorial stones in my own life. There are seasons when I have to intentionally remember God's faithfulness because my emotions try to convince me that He won't come through this time.

But He has been faithful before. And He will be faithful again.

Gilgal: Where Identity Changes

The first place Israel camped after crossing the Jordan was Gilgal. Gilgal means "rolling away. God said He had rolled away the reproach of Egypt from them. I love this picture.

God wasn't simply changing their location. He was changing their identity. Gilgal became the place where God prepared His people for everything that lay ahead. It was a place of transition

A place of covenant.

A place where the flesh was cut away through circumcision.

A place of healing.

A place of remembrance.

A place of new identity.

I've noticed something about God's process. We usually want to rush into the next assignment. God often slows us down so He can heal us first. Joshua and the people remained at Gilgal until they were healed before they advanced. Healing wasn't delaying the promise. Healing was preparing them for it.

Provision Changed

One of my favorite parts of this story is what happened next. The manna stopped. At first glance that sounds discouraging. But it wasn't. God hadn't stopped providing. He had simply changed the way He provided. In the wilderness He gave them manna every day. In the Promised Land they had to cultivate the land and eat its fruit.

This speaks to me so deeply. Sometimes we keep praying for God to provide the way He did in the last season while He is inviting us into greater stewardship in the new one.

• Different season.

• Different provision.

• Same faithful God.

Revelation Comes Through God's Presence

While Joshua was at Gilgal, he encountered the Commander of the Lord's Army. There he received revelation for the next step.

Notice the pattern.

• Consecration.

• Healing.

• Revelation.

• Then advancement.

God doesn't always reveal ten steps ahead. Often He reveals the next step after we've surrendered the current one.

Jericho: Obedience Brings Victory

Jericho taught Israel something they would never forget. Victory would never come because of their own strength. It would come because of obedience. Marching around walls didn't make sense. Shouting at walls didn't make sense.

But God's strategies rarely make sense to our natural minds. When they obeyed exactly what God instructed, the walls came down. What an incredible reminder that breakthrough belongs to the Lord.

Ai: Stay Dependent

Then came Ai. This smaller city looked much easier than Jericho. Joshua didn't seek the Lord before going into battle. The result was devastating. They suffered defeat. That lesson speaks loudly to me. Yesterday's victory doesn't eliminate today's need for God's direction. Every battle requires fresh dependence on Him.

As I read about Ai, I'm reminded of the world we live in today. We have access to more information, technology, and human wisdom than ever before. Those things can be wonderful tools, but they can never replace the voice of God. We must never become so confident in our own understanding that we stop asking, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" His wisdom will always take us farther than our own intelligence ever could.

Where Are You Today?

Maybe today you feel like you're still in the wilderness, learning daily dependence. Maybe you're standing at your own Jordan wondering how you'll ever cross. Maybe God has you at Gilgal, healing old wounds and giving you a new identity before sending you forward.

Maybe you're facing your own Jericho and waiting for His strategy. Or perhaps you've experienced an "Ai" moment that reminded you just how much you need Him. Wherever you are, don't lose heart.

God never intended for Israel to stay in the wilderness forever, and He doesn't intend for you to stay stuck either.

• Stay consecrated.

• Stay teachable.

• Stay humble.

• Stay submitted to the leaders God has placed in your life.

• Most of all, stay close to His presence.

The same God who brought Israel out of Egypt, sustained them in the wilderness, parted the Jordan, established them at Gilgal, and gave them victory in the Promised Land is still leading His people today.

He knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly what season you're in. And He knows exactly how to lead you into the inheritance He has prepared for you. Trust His process.

The promise is still ahead.