Piles of Stones

Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, “What do these stones mean?” Then you can tell them, “This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.”

Joshua 4:21-22 (NLT)

Iwas chatting this week with a friend whose family is preparing for a big change. They are confident that it’s what God is calling them to do, but we got to talking about how hard it can be to trust God in the midst of transition. Even when he has clearly laid out the next step for us, the uncertainty of the everyday details can cause us to doubt. When my family was getting ready to return to Maryland from overseas, we hadn’t planned on moving to Carroll County. But through a series of distinct circumstances, God clearly showed us where we were supposed to live. The details were so unusual that I wrote it all down. Over the harried months of packing, moving, unpacking and getting settled, whenever I questioned his plan for us, I’d pull out my notes to remind me of his faithfulness. When the Israelites were getting ready to finally cross into the Promised Land, Joshua spelled out for them exactly what would happen. They knew the Lord was going to stop the water so they could cross. They had seen God take care of them for the past forty-plus years. Yet I’m guessing there were some nervous glances up-river as the water piled in a heap and they made their way down the steep banks into the river bed. Once they were safely across, I’m sure that God’s strange instructions over the next several days (see Joshua 5 and 6) raised more than a few doubts and questions in their minds.

This is why God instructed them to make a pile of stones beside the river banks, as a memorial to his faithfulness. He knows that our memories are fuzzy, that our humanity causes us to question, even when his plan is clear. Sometimes we need something tangible to remind us what he has done in the past, so we can trust him in the uncertain future.

Where have you seen God’s faithfulness in the past? How can you make your own pile of stones (picture, tattoo, story, jewelry, poem, etc.) to remind you of what he has done?