TWELVE STONES AND A CROSSING

Joshua 4:4-9
4 Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." . . . 9 Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

Cindy is the record-keeping type, with a library of meticulously kept planners dating back a couple of decades. You might find it odd that she keeps them. Actually, it's not strange at all.

Early in her adult life, Cindy began making little notes in the margins of her planner. Notes like: "Not much food left," or "Car trouble again." Often, her notes would record that someone provided food or money a few days later. It's a remarkable chronicle of God's faithfulness--just in time--to one of His ordinary servants.

Recently Cindy has been battling cancer. Thankfully, she's winning. It will be fascinating to read her 2004 planner in a few years.

Record-keeping that emphasizes praise to our heavenly Father is one way to combat our human tendency to forget things we shouldn't. A military leader named Joshua had another way to fight it. During the Israelites' meandering escape from slavery in Egypt, God performed numerous miracles for them. One of the last miracles was the crossing of the Jordan River during flood stage (see Joshua 3).

Amphibious assault teams hadn't been invented yet, so God caused the river to "[pile] up in a heap a great distance away" (v.16). The 12 tribes of Israel crossed safely and made ready for an equally miraculous attack on Jericho.

To commemorate the crossing, God instructed Joshua to have one man from each tribe select a stone from the riverbed. They carried the stones on their shoulders to Gilgal, where they constructed a memorial to God's miraculous provision (4:9). Joshua said, "In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them . . . , 'These stones are a memorial to the people of Israel forever'" (vv.6-7).

You may not have a collection of rocks from a river stacked up in your backyard. But whether it's 12 stones, a day planner, or a Post-it note on your laptop, we all need something to remind ourselves of God's faithfulness. --Tim Gustafson

DESTINATION POINTS

* What are the three greatest examples from my life that demonstrate God's love for me?
* In what ways do I remember His goodness?
* Where do I turn when I feel that life is unfair?

LINKS
Joseph: Overcoming Life's Challenges
http://www.discoveryseries.org/q0715

bottom line: God has a history of meeting needs.

soul journey