Joshua 3:17
“The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”
Joshua chapter 3 ends with the whole nation crossing on dry ground. It seems that would be a hard thing to forget: the day the flooded Jordan River stopped flowing and all of Israel crossed without getting their shoes muddy.
Ah, but we are prone to forget, aren’t we? So after they had all crossed, (Joshua 4:1-3) God tells Joshua to send some men back, one from each family, into the river to take a stone, one big enough that they would carry it on their shoulders, not just in their pockets.
The stones would serve two purposes. Verse 6 says they would be a sign among them in the future, to cause their children to ask about them, and to wonder what amazing thing God might do next in their midst. And verse 7 says they would be a memorial forever, a reminder of what God had already done.
A pile of rocks.
There’s still a pile of rocks in my front yard, right next to my driveway, where I unloaded them from the van after I shared this message a few weeks ago. Every time I pull in, I think I should put those rocks away. But I haven’t.
Those rocks are still doing their job for me. Whenever I see them, I remember the moments of God’s provision they represented in my message. They remind me of His faithfulness to me and my family. And they are a reminder of the amazing thing God wants to do in and through me in the days ahead.
I’m sure I’ll put those rocks away someday. Maybe.
Three applications.
We all need these kinds of signs and reminders, so here are three things you can do today, inspired by the day the Israelites crossed the flooded Jordan River on dry ground.
1. Put up a sign. Consider putting up some kind of sign in your home that causes you, and our children, to ask every day, what amazing thing God is going to do next. Maybe it is a rock, or a photo, or something else you can look at and tell the story of God’s deliverance in your life.
2. Record a memorial. Or, perhaps, you need to start recording the faithfulness of God in your life. I have to admit, when I first read this passage a few weeks ago, I set out to make a list of 12 times when God had been faithful, and it was harder than you’d think. Three or four came easy—they are those key transformational moments in your life when it was clear God was at work—but how quickly the examples of God’s daily provision slip away from our memory. Before you move on, take out your phone and create a note, title it Jordan River, and whenever God does something amazing in your midst, write it there.
3. Take a step of faith. Finally, maybe you are still standing back, waiting for God to make the first move. But the truth is, He already has. And it’s time for you to put your faith into action, and, as scary as it might be, to step into the floodwaters, confident of this: that God is going to do an amazing thing in your midst.
What are you going to do today, so that you will never forget God’s faithfulness to you?
In this serious of posts, studying Joshua 3 and 4, we look at faith from the shore of the flooded Jordan River. Other posts include: This is how you will know which way to go, This is how you will know that the living God is among you, and This is how you will cross.