Remember to Remember

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Loving Lord God, I know that You are above me, around me and within me. I praise Your holy name.

Read Joshua 4:1–9

^[1] When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, ^[2] “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, ^[3] and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” ^[4] So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, ^[5] and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, ^[6] to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ^[7] tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” ^[8] So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. ^[9] Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

Meditate

“We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done” (Psa. 78:4).

Think Further

Above the exit of a store in Barnsley, a town in the South Yorkshire

district of England, is an inconspicuous sign. It simply states that Hudson Taylor, founder of the

China Inland Mission (now Overseas Missionary Fellowship), had been born in a shop which

formerly stood on that site. In an interesting footnote, local Christians have recently created a

heritage trail for visiting Chinese Christians who want to know about Taylor’s roots!

The point is, without memorials and reminders we will soon forget. That’s why God instructed

the Israelites to collect twelve stones from the river (3) as a reminder to future generations. They

were to be erected on dry land so that anyone seeing them would be reminded of these events.

This wasn’t just a reminder of an interesting fact, it was a celebration of what God had done.

Memorials are significant in the Scriptures. Sometimes they took the form of ceremonies such as

when the Israelites ate unleavened bread for seven days (Exod. 13:3–6) and in the New

Testament the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:26). Others, like this one, were physical memorials

which would be seen by future generations (1 Sam. 7:12). But a significant dimension was that

they were ways of prompting the questions of their children (6), as with the Passover (Exod.

12:26,27) and even the laws given by God (Deut. 6:20–25). “Any society that hopes to endure

must become, as sociologists put it, a community of memory and hope” (Bruce Waltke).

Above the exit of a store in Barnsley, a town in the South Yorkshire district of England, is an inconspicuous sign. It simply states that Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission (now Overseas Missionary Fellowship), had been born in a shop which formerly stood on that site. In an interesting footnote, local Christians have recently created a heritage trail for visiting Chinese Christians who want to know about Taylor’s roots! The point is, without memorials and reminders we will soon forget. That’s why God instructed the Israelites to collect twelve stones from the river (3) as a reminder to future generations. They were to be erected on dry land so that anyone seeing them would be reminded of these events.
This wasn’t just a reminder of an interesting fact, it was a celebration of what God had done. Memorials are significant in the Scriptures. Sometimes they took the form of ceremonies such as when the Israelites ate unleavened bread for seven days (Exod. 13:3–6) and in the New Testament the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:26). Others, like this one, were physical memorials
which would be seen by future generations (1 Sam. 7:12). But a significant dimension was that they were ways of prompting the questions of their children (6), as with the Passover (Exod. 12:26,27) and even the laws given by God (Deut. 6:20–25). “Any society that hopes to endure must become, as sociologists put it, a community of memory and hope” (Bruce Waltke).

Apply

What “Jordan-like” experience in your life might well be “memorialized” to share with others?

Closing prayer

Heavenly Father, I thank You for significant experiences in my life-journey with You. May they translate into hope for me as I face the future.

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

Yesterday’s reading

View all readings

Tomorrow’s reading