As the Israelites stood on the banks of the Jordan river on the verge of entering into the promised land, they must have wondered how they were going to get across. The Bible tells us the Jordan was at flood stage, so it would have been flowing pretty rapidly. (Joshua 3: 15). About 40 years earlier, the previous generation had stood on the bank of the Red Sea and seen the miraculous hand of God as he made a dry path through its centre, allowing his people to walk through, but killing their Egyptian enemies as the waters tumbled back down and drowned them.
When it came time to cross the Jordan, only 2 men were still alive who could remember the Red Sea crossing – their leader Joshua, and Caleb. Everyone else had heard it second-hand from their parents – those same parents they’d watched die one by one in the wilderness as they were punished for rebelling and angering God.
There is a huge difference between hearing about a miracle and actually witnessing one for yourself. God was about to show these people he was still willing to do the miraculous. He also needed to venerate Joshua as their new leader, so once again he parted the waters, and the people crossed the Jordan on dry ground. The river stopped flowing, and the waters upstream piled up at a town called Adam. (Joshua 3: 16.) This time, the people couldn’t see walls of water on either side of them as they crossed, but there was no denying that where once there had been a river, now there was dry land.
As I was reading this account, I took particular note of how Joshua insisted upon a representative of each of the tribes of Israel retrieving a stone from the centre of the river and carrying it on his shoulders to the other side. Later, Joshua set up these 12 stones as a memorial, saying: “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean? ‘tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ 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. 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.” (Joshua 4: 21-24.)
The purpose of the 12 stones was to be a witness to future generations. No doubt, the crossing of the Jordan would become folk law, but God didn’t want them to be left in any doubt concerning this miracle. He insisted they had tangible proof that it had actually happened. 12 large stones from the middle of a river could be examined and used as a teaching tool for the Israelites’ children and grandchildren. In generations to come, they would be able to come back to the site of this monument and say: “The same God who parted the river and allowed our ancestors to cross without getting their feet wet is going to come through for us too. You see this impossible trial we’re facing? It’s not too big for our God. We serve a God of miracles.”
A few years ago, I started keeping a journal. This was something I’d done during my teens, but then given up on when life got too busy. Yet God called me back to it, because my diary has become for me what the stones of remembrance were for the Israelites. Whenever I face tough times and wonder if there will be light at the end of the tunnel, the Holy Spirit encourages me to go back and read over what God has done for me in the past.
As well as journaling my day to day activities, I also write down any promises God has given me, or scriptures that seem to have special meaning, and I watch in awe as promises are fulfilled and Bible verses come alive through my own life journey. My diary stands as proof that I serve a living God, who both hears and answers my prayers, and works all things in my life together for good. (Romans 8: 28.)
In old testament times, I’ve heard it said the ancients made notches in their staff or walking stick every time God did something good in their lives. They would then use these notches to teach their children and grandchildren their family’s history. Abraham probably made a notch each time God appeared to him and confirmed his promises. Doubtless there was another on the day God saved him from having to sacrifice his own son. When hard times came, he would have pointed to those marks, and reminded his family that God had been faithful before, so they could expect him to be faithful again.
Although I have my diary to remind me of the goodness of God, I still find myself doubting when my days turn dark. At these times, it’s so easy to become obsessed with the bleakness of the here and now, and to fear the future. That’s when I need to remind myself of God’s past faithfulness. I need to pull out those old journals and remind myself that bad times have come before, and God has always come through. My current experience is not unique, and it’s far from the worst thing I’ve ever gone through.
The enemy loves to fill our minds with doubt but our “Stones of remembrance”, in whatever form they come, are there to re-centre our minds on the things that never change. My God is still the God who dried up the Jordan riverbed so his children could walk across without even getting their feet wet.
Those Israelites who experienced that miracle probably grumbled and complained against God some time in the future, just as their parents had despite the parting of the red sea. Sadly, it’s one of our biggest human flaws. Yet how much more peaceful our lives would be if we returned more frequently to our stones of remembrance instead of being weighed down by panic and fear. How quickly we forget. Then, when brighter days come, we say we’ll always remember how God brought us through the darkness, only to find ourselves back in the pit of doubt the next time a cloud appears.
I was convicted by this story in the book of Joshua, and I want to take its message to heart. It reminds me that the best stone of remembrance of all is the Bible we have the privilege of reading every day. God’s Word is full of stories of his miraculous hand at work. The people who benefited from these interventions were ordinary and sinful just like us. They let God down, but he still loved them, and even graciously helped them out of the messes they made. I’m so grateful to have his living word to hold onto as a stone of remembrance.