Tuesday, April 2, 2025
Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow.” Then he said to the priests, “Carry the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them. The Lord spoke to Joshua: “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they will know that I will be with you just as I was with Moses. Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant: When you reach the edge of the water, stand in the Jordan.” Joshua 3:5-8 (CSB)
When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth, come to rest in the Jordan’s water, its water will be cut off. The water flowing downstream will stand up in a mass.” Joshua 3:13 (CSB)
The Children of Israel were on the banks of the Jordan and finally ready to go into the promised land. Their ancestors had missed the blessing of the promised land and now their children were going to receive the blessing. The promised land was just across the Jordan river, but the river was at flood stage and running rapidly. Everything God had promised was just on the other side - but they had to cross the river first. Joshua’s message to them was that the living God is with you, and He will not fail, and He will part the waters and make a way. They had to have faith and trust him. They had to step into the raging waters, believing that God would part them, and they would not be swept away. They did it because they knew God's promises were true and he was faithful. They trusted him and stepped into raging waters on faith.
After the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua: “Choose twelve men from the people, one man for each tribe, and command them: Take twelve stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests are standing, carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night.” So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe, and said to them, “Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ you should tell them, ‘The water of the Jordan was cut off in front of the ark of the Lord’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the Jordan’s water was cut off.’ Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites.” Joshua 4:1-7
Do You Have A Stone? Or Twelve?
The Lord told Joshua to command 12 men from each tribe to go back into the riverbed and get 12 stones out of the riverbed, and build a monument. The riverbed was the scariest place for them. The waters were parted, and they had faith to go, but wonder if about halfway through they might have thought about they would drown should the waters come crashing back together. Those stones from the scariest part of their faith were so they would be reminded of what God had done, and maybe so they would remember that even in the scariest places in our lives he never leaves us or forsakes us. He doesn’t ever make a promise and change his mind, and that is what we must remember to strengthen our faith. He never leaves us in our most challenging moments. He is with us always in our highs and in our lows – holding our hand the whole way.
The stones are what we bring from the creek bed of our struggles, trauma, trials, and difficult circumstances. The stones remind us of where we have been and how we have overcome in the power of Jesus. Our lives feel overwhelming during these times because we try to solve things in our own heads. But Jesus has a bigger and better plan every time. His ways are not our ways. There is no earthly solution to what we face and even if there is an earthly solution, it will never work without the power and sovereignty of our Heavenly Father. The stones also remind us of his faithfulness. There might be pain and loss, and nothing may work out the way we want it to, but we surrender our way to have his better way, even when pain is involved. We can trust him and every time we look at our feel a stone from the riverbed of our trials, we remember his faithfulness.
The night before the big day, Joshua told the children of Israel “Consecrate yourselves, because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow.” We should make it a daily practice to sanctify ourselves and focus on the Lord so that we are spiritually prepared to see his wonders because he does wonders among us every day. Every day there are Jordans to be crossed and huge steps of faith to be taken. The more focused on him we are, the more prepared we are to be obedient so we can be a part of his work. Collect the stones from the riverbed places in your life. Remember God’s faithfulness in your obedience. Remember the waters he parts. Share with those around you and those that come after you so that they can know the faithfulness of God and what he has done in your life.
