In today’s Daily Devotional, we delve into Joshua 4 to explore how to create memorials when God intervenes miraculously. Reflecting on how we remember God’s significant actions is crucial. By examining the passage, we will understand the importance of establishing physical and spiritual symbols to remind ourselves and future generations of God’s grace and guidance. Please read or listen to Joshua 4 to fully appreciate the lessons within. To learn why we should align our lives with God’s Word, read the Daily Devotional on Joshua 3.
What are the Stones of Remembrance in Joshua 4?
In Joshua 4, the twelve memorial stones were meant to serve as a lasting reminder of God’s miraculous intervention when He parted the Jordan River, just as He had parted the Red Sea for Moses. This act of divine power not only exalted Joshua as a leader but also provided a tangible way for the Israelites to remember and pass on the story of God’s faithfulness to their children. Such memorials underscore the importance of recognizing and commemorating God’s work in our lives.
Reflecting on this passage reaffirms the idea that God’s plan continues despite human limitations. Joshua succeeded Moses and led the Israelites across the Jordan, experiencing God’s power firsthand. This passage highlights that God uses leaders to fulfill His plans and that His wonders should be shared with future generations. The twelve stones erected as a memorial were a powerful reminder to pass on God’s blessings and miracles to our children, ensuring that His mighty hand is remembered and glorified.
Joshua 4 Commentary by Allen J. Huth
In Joshua 4, we are going to learn how to make memorials when God meets us and does something miraculous. How do you remember God’s intervention in your life? Please read or listen to Joshua 4.
What Is the Significance of the Memory Stones in Joshua 4?
In 1995, when reading Joshua 4, I wrote in my personal Bible reading journal, “Twelve memorial stones. God wants us to build altars, symbols, to remind us and our children when He intervenes in our lives. He wants us to remember Him and His grace and direction in our lives and He wants us to pass it on to our children. God can also exalt leaders the way He wants. He exalted Joshua to the position of leadership by parting the Jordan, just as He had done with Moses at the Red Sea. He used supernatural physical events to ensure that everyone saw them and there was no way the leader could have performed the tasks without God’s help. O, for God to exalt leaders today.”
What Is the Purpose of Memory Stones?
Nine years later, in 2004, I read Joshua 1-4 on the same day because I was reading the Bible chronologically. I shared my journal entry when we covered Joshua 1. As we close out the first four chapters, I share it again, “God’s plan moves[AH1] on in spite of people. Moses is dead, but God’s plan and leadership are not. Joshua is the successor and God is going to elevate him in front of Israel by using him like Moses, to part the Jordan River. These people did not cross the Red Sea, they only heard about it. Now they are going to experience God’s power too. God also uses people like Moses and Joshua to work His plan. He still uses people today.”
I wrote part of my prayer in my journal that day, “To be used by God, to see His plan unfold, to know the enemy has already heard about God and has melted away.”
What Do the 12 Stones Represent?
Nine years later in 2013, remember I was at a Gideon state convention in Grapevine, Texas. I split Joshua 4 into two different readings on two different days. On this day, I read the first fourteen verses and wrote, “Remembering the Lord’s blessings. Twelve stones erected as a memorial to God, parting the Jordan River, so that the blessings and miracles of God can be passed on to our children. O, Father, help me to always pass on Your blessings, Your miracles, to my children and grandchildren, so You are honored and glorified.”
Then I wrote, “God can raise up leaders, Joshua. And as He works through us, He exalts us by His blessings and miracle-working power. So far, so good at the Texas convention. Lord, continue to use me today.” And I wrote a portion of my prayer in my journal that day, “Use me. Bless me in the position You have bestowed upon me. Anoint me today in training and in tonight’s message. Stir Your people.”
The next day, I finished Joshua 4, still in Grapevine, Texas, and wrote, “Like Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, God used Joshua to part the Jordan River. Amazing how God decides to elevate and exalt a leader. He makes sure, though, that He gets the glory.” I continued to write, “Share the miracles of God with our children, ‘so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty’” (v. 24). I finished my journal entry with, “God, Your hand is still mighty today. Imagine the fear in Jericho and Gilgal as they hear or see the Israel army now on their side of the Jordan because the waters parted.”
What Do the Memorial Stones Represent in the Bible?
Let’s take a brief look at Joshua 4. It is interesting to me, right off the bat, the Lord is the one who commands Joshua to build the memorial. What does that tell us about God? What it tells me is He wants the honor and the glory. He also wants to be remembered. Verses 5-7 are the instruction from the Lord:
take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, “What do those stones mean to you?” then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
And in verses 21-24, Joshua says: When your children ask their fathers in times to come, “What do these stones mean?” then you shall let your children know, “Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.” For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.
God Wants to be Remembered
Our practical application from Joshua 4 is, how do you remember the things God has done in your life? What memorials, if any, have you built or saved or communicated to your children?
The first question may be, have you ever experienced God’s mighty hand in your life? I hope so. I hope from this chapter today, you will find a way to memorialize that event in your life. Is there a picture of it? Is there a record of it? Have you written anything down? Have you recorded it? Is it something you can pass on to your children and your children’s children?
It is amazing I am writing this today, because on a ride in the Rocky Mountains over the weekend, Terry and I said there have been so many blessings in our lives, and we have not recorded them, so we need to do that. Working on Joshua 4 today was a confirmation of our discussion in the car, in the Rocky Mountains, just a day or two ago.
Hopefully hearing Joshua 4 today is a reminder to you too, that God has done marvelous things in your life and these things should be passed on to your children to give God the glory. He wants the credit and He wants to be remembered.
Prayer
Father, thank You for this great chapter of scripture. Thank You for the parting of the Jordan River. Thank You for the idea of building memorials so we do not forget Your miracle working power in our own lives. Thank You for the reminder You want the glory, and You want to be remembered. Today, we give You the glory. Remind us to remember You. Amen.