The Jordan River was at flood stage. God told the people to go through the river. The priests lifted the Ark of the Covenant to their shoulders and stepped into the water.

God did not part the water until the priests were in it, bearing the Ark. Then the water flow stopped, and the people of God passed through to the other side.

How would you like to have been one of those priests with the most precious and holy object in your nation resting on your shoulders? How would it feel to step into the swollen river having no idea how you would proceed? Must you be ready to wash off downstream and chase the floating Ark on the crest of the waves?

God chooses to wait until our feet are in the water. His intervention seems last-second to us, but he is teaching us to depend upon him and him alone. God has a great opportunity, when our resources are exhausted, to glorify himself through our obedience.