A Monument of God’s Faithfulness to Heal

We’ve all heard the miraculous story of how God pushed back the water of the Jordan River, and the Israelites walked across on dry land into their long-awaited Promised Land of Canaan.

            After the crossing, in Joshua 4:1-4, God gave Joshua instructions to choose 12 men, one from each tribe to take a stone and carry it back out into the place where the priests were still standing in the middle of the Jordan River. They were to pile the stones up as a monument. 

            God then tells Joshua the purpose of the monument: “In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What is this monument for,’ you can tell them it is to remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the ark of the covenant went across. The monument will be a permanent reminder to the people of Israel of this amazing miracle” (Joshua 4:6-7 TLB).

            I want to draw your attention to the Israelites’ life following this miraculous act of God. They had to start living in a real world where they had to fight many battles to possess their Promised Land. It wasn’t handed over to them on a silver platter. No doubt, they often got discouraged. So, I personally believe that another reason God had them build those stones was so they could use them as a reference point for any current situation they might be facing. There were times of no miracles; there were times when their world was thrown into such chaos that they might have thought they had no future.

            Can’t you just hear them saying, “We are not sure right now about God’s presence, but we know for certain that God is God because that pile of stones bears witness of how He made a highway out of the Jordan River.”

One particular reference point I often use to remind me of God’s faithfulness when I face difficult times is a toy eighteen-wheeler truck that sits on my desk. Several years ago while traveling alone on a trip to Georgia, I was rear-ended by an eighteen-wheeler on Interstate 10 at 5:30 in the morning, My car seat broke upon impact, and I fell backward. At some point, I was literally lifted from my down position, and continued driving. Quite obviously, I knew I should pull over to see what had happened to me and my car. It was then that a truck driver, who had also pulled off the interstate, came to me and said, “I went to sleep and ran into you.” 

My car was totaled, but I walked away without a scratch. Yes, the toy eighteen wheeler truck is my reference point to remind me of God’s faithfulness to me, not only in the wreck, but healing the traumatic emotional turmoil I experienced in the following weeks.

            What about you? What did you experience in 2021 that might have left you discouraged?

Perhaps you are at that point in your life that you are not able to see by your present circumstance that God is beside you. I encourage you today before you try to go forward feeling defeated, look back and remember from where God has brought you, and the many miraculous things He has done for you in the past. Sometimes, we just a reference point like the stones at the Jordon River of God’s faithfulness to us in the past that brought about a healing that will move us forward into the future.

1.     Describe a current situation you may be experiencing that has left you feeling discouraged?

2.     Describe a time in the past of God’s faithfulness to you that you can use as a reference point to remind you of God’s faithfulness to you?

3.     What scripture and steps did God use to inspire you in the past that brought about heling in your life?

In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What is this monument for,’ you can tell them it is to remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the ark of the covenant went across. The monument will be a permanent reminder to the people of Israel of this amazing miracle.” (Joshua 4:6-7 TLB) 

Martha Bush

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