Begin this morning be reading Joshua 4:1-9:
1 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.
Israel had just experienced something miraculous-- life changing. Joshua now has the foresight (or Divine inspiration) to recognize that there will be a time when Israel needs to draw strength from this moment-- to remember that their God was faithful. To do so, he creates a memorial from stones taken from the dry river bed to serve as a reminder for future generations and to draw strength in the moments when Israel would have cause to doubt.
As we think about the process of wrestling with our own moments of doubt, I am reminded of the importance of having a great memory—the ability to return to the moments when God tangibly showed himself faithful in our lives. These moments can be source of assurance in the dry places of our faith during that process of reorienting the source of our faith squarely back onto the person of Christ.
What would this look like for you? What are the moments in your life where God has shown himself faithful?
How can you create a memorial, something tangible, that will serve to remind you of the moments when God is nearest to help pull you through the times when He feels distant?
Israel had just experienced something miraculous-- life changing. Joshua now has the foresight (or Divine inspiration) to recognize that there will be a time when Israel needs to draw strength from this moment-- to remember that their God was faithful. To do so, he creates a memorial from stones taken from the dry river bed to serve as a reminder for future generations and to draw strength in the moments when Israel would have cause to doubt.
As we think about the process of wrestling with our own moments of doubt, I am reminded of the importance of having a great memory—the ability to return to the moments when God tangibly showed himself faithful in our lives. These moments can be source of assurance in the dry places of our faith during that process of reorienting the source of our faith squarely back onto the person of Christ.
What would this look like for you? What are the moments in your life where God has shown himself faithful?
How can you create a memorial, something tangible, that will serve to remind you of the moments when God is nearest to help pull you through the times when He feels distant?
Pastor Sterling Moore
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1 comment:
my license plate on my car is the first letters of the first 6 words of a Bible verse and a number for the reference. When people ask me what it means, it becomes an opportunity to tell the story of a time when God was present for me in a very tangible way. It also reinforces my faith as I tell that story again.
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