I am teased often by my family over the number of hoodies I have from places I have been. Being a bit of clothes hog, I do clean out my closet at the end of each season of those things I no longer wear but still look new to give away.  But items that tell of the good memories of places Randy and I have visited still remain because they make me smile when I wear them and remember.  They remind me of God’s hand on us as we traveled on adventures far from home.  We remember the enjoyment we had of seeing the beauty of the land along with the nice people we met along the way.  The hoodies represent good memories.  So, when one of our family members ask “why do you still have that,” I tell them the stories of our adventures!  They still tease me, but I am loyal to the memories!

God wants us to remember!  He teaches the Israelites HOW to forever remember that time when His glorious power went to work right before their eyes!  God parts the waters of the Jordan just like he parted the Red Sea!  Imagine, if you can, thousands of people, bringing all their stuff along with herds of animals, coming the Jordan River, AT FLOOD STAGE no less, and then watching God hold the waters back so they could cross over on dry ground!  Wow! God is so good to us that sometimes I think we can be spoiled by His goodness and take Him for granted!  Perhaps we should take stock and remember, with smiles and thoughts of gratitude, for all He has done for us and is doing in us right now! 

Read and watch as God “rolls out the red carpet” of His Goodness so that His Chosen can walk across Jordan to the Promised Land on dry ground. And why the twelve stones?  I’ll let Joshua tell it…

Joshua 4

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ² “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, ³ and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

⁴ So 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.”

⁸ So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. 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.

¹⁰ Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, ¹¹ and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the Lord and the priests came to the other side while the people watched. ¹² The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, ready for battle, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them. ¹³ About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for war.

¹⁴ That day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Joshua, ¹⁶ “Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant law to come up out of the Jordan.”

¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”

¹⁸ And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.

¹⁹ On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. ²⁰ And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. ²¹ He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ²² tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. ²⁴ He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Twelve large stones were to be picked up from the middle of the Jordan—right where the priest who carried the Ark stood.  Twelve—one heavy stone placed on the shoulders of representatives of each tribe of Israel originating from the twelve sons of Jacob.  No detail of God’s promise to His people is left undone or forgotten.  God is good like that.  He wants us to remember Him—not the stones.  Love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls—not the stones.  Worship God alone—not the stones.  Look at the piled up stones as a way to recall God’s miraculous power of provision and protection and give him praise while telling His story of rescue and redemption.  The stones did not save them—God did! 

Too many times, God’s people become attached to the stones of places and feel they can only connect with God there. They worship the place more than God who spoke to them or helped them there.  We must realize that God is everywhere. Just like God goes before the Israelites from place to place as they conquer the Promised Land God gave to them; God goes before, beside, and behind us.  It is God, not the stones of the places we’ve been, but God alone to whom all praise is due and from whom all blessings flow! 

“And they are there to this day…” to remember who God is with what He did. “He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

As soon as the priests’ feet touched the Jordan River, God rolled the water back, allowing his people to enter Canaan on dry ground.  Don’t skip over the power and majesty of our Creator who is able to control all that He has created!  Pause even now to remember all that God has done for, in and through you!  Rejoice, and again I say rejoice, knowing God watches over our every step as we journey toward His promises of which there are many, which includes life forever with Him!

The Old has gone; the New Begins—

The stone monument at Gilgal reminded the Israelites that God had opened the Jordan River and brought them safely across into the Promised Land. They had made a break with the past and were never to think of going back. The monument taken from the depths of the river reminded them that their old life was now buried and they were now to “live new lives” (Romans 6:1–4).

Believe and be saved.  Remember and tell others what God did for us through His Son.

Remembering and telling is worship to God! 

Lord,

Thank you for this story of remembering the power you had, have, and always will have in our world.  Thank you for teaching us how to remember in ways that praise you alone! Thank you for your rescue and redemption. Thank you for being with us always. Thank you, Jesus for being the Way, Truth, and Life.  I will never forget what you have done and are still doing in me.

In Jesus Name, Amen