What's the most important thing you've ever forgotten? Maybe it was an anniversary, a doctor's appointment, or your car keys. We are people prone to forget, which is why God established memorials throughout Scripture to help His people remember His mighty works.
In Joshua 4, we find the Israelites standing at a pivotal moment in their history. After wandering in the wilderness for forty years, they've finally crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land—on dry ground, no less. God commands Joshua to take twelve stones from the middle of the riverbed and set them up as a memorial at Gilgal. These stones weren't just souvenirs; they were conversation starters for future generations who would ask, "What do these stones mean?"
The answer reveals the dual purpose of this memorial: "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and that you may fear the LORD your God forever." The stones pointed outward as a testimony to surrounding nations and inward as a reminder to God's people. They connected the miracle at the Jordan with God's earlier deliverance at the Red Sea, creating a thread of divine faithfulness running through Israel's history.
As we examine this passage alongside Hebrews 3-4, we discover that the Jordan crossing itself points forward to something greater. Moses led enslaved people out of Egypt but couldn't bring them into God's rest because of their unbelief. Joshua succeeded in bringing them into Canaan, but even that wasn't the ultimate rest God had in mind. Both were foreshadowing Jesus, who offers true rest—freedom from slavery to sin, from aimless wandering, from exhausting striving, and ultimately from death itself.
True belief isn't just intellectual assent or cultural Christianity. It means abandoning all hope in our ability to earn what God has promised and casting ourselves fully upon Him. This kind of belief leads to action, prioritizes obedience over strategy, and sustains perseverance through difficulty. When life feels heavy, our determination alone isn't enough, but fixing our eyes on what God is doing gives us strength to continue.
What memorials have you established in your life to remember God's faithfulness? Perhaps it's Sunday worship, personal testimonies, or meaningful objects that remind you of spiritual milestones. These safeguards help us resist the "death by a thousand nudges" that can erode our faith when we're not looking. Our remembrance stokes the fires of our belief, which leads us into the rest God promises through Jesus, our great high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses and invites us to approach His throne with confidence.
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