Right now, by your present disciplines and decisions, you’re either cultivating a spirit of fear or a spirit of courage. Both feel uncontrollable in the moment, but what comes out under pressure is what you’ve been disciplining yourself with daily. If you’re constantly consuming anxiety-inducing content, living in a state of worry, when you reach your Jordan River, you’ll shift into fear mode.
But if every day you’re disciplining yourself and cultivating courage – not in yourself, but in God who protects, leads, and guides you – then when you stand before something impossible, that cultivated courage will help you take the next step God is asking you to take.
Israel needed to learn to fear God more than their enemies. The seven nations listed in this passage worshiped dead idols that could not protect them. But Israel served the living God. If Yahweh can tame a raging river, He can repel attacking armies. If He can stop up the Jordan, He can put down any enemy.