Joshua

Monument Maker

READ Joshua 4

Where I live in the Southwest, there are many hiking trails demarcated by cairns, piled rocks that mark a path. Hikers from years past set up these cairns to mark routes for future hikers to find their way. These cairns remind me of the story in Joshua 4, where rocks served as a guide for future generations to remember the acts of God and to walk faithfully in his path.

Even before Moses appointed Joshua as his successor (Numbers 27:18), Joshua had demonstrated his faithfulness. He was one of only two spies out of the twelve who Moses sent to survey Canaan who believed in God’s power to deliver the promised land to Israel (Numbers 13). Joshua trusted God more than he feared any humans or armies. In the book of Joshua, we read how he stepped boldly and faithfully into his position as Israel’s leader after Moses’ death.

After forty years, Israel entered the promised land through the miraculously parted waters of the Jordan River. God instructed Joshua to tell twelve men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, to each take a stone from the dry riverbed where Israel crossed the Jordan. Joshua had these stones set up as a memorial of what God had done for Israel. He told the people that these stones were to serve as visual aids for God’s power in the future. When their children in years to come asked what the twelve stones meant, the Israelites were to use that opportunity to tell their children what God had done.

The stone memorial Joshua set up for the Israelites demonstrated the importance of remembering. Like hikers setting up cairns and the Israelites setting up memorial stones, we, too, should tell and retell what God has done. Remembering God's goodness strengthens our faith for the future.

Perhaps you have a “memorial stone” in your family that reminds you of who you are and what God has brought you through, such as a table where your family gathered for dinner and prayers or a folded flag to memorialize a former soldier who was a strong leader in the Christian faith. What are the objects and reminders in your life that tell of God’s faithfulness and love to you? What “memorials” cause you to pause and reflect on God’s goodness? Having reminders prompts us to reflect on God’s faithfulness and strengthens our faithful response to him. They also create opportunities to tell others of God’s grace so that we can pass on stories of God’s works to the next generation.