Memorial Stones

The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, "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 you God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord you 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." Joshua 4:19-24

Joshua said that those stones were a memorial. A testimony of what God had done for His people. Joshua was direct with this command. He said when their children asked, tell them what God had done. No skidding around it, no made-up story, just the complete truth. God had done a miracle, and the pile of stones would attest to that forever.

There may not be a pile of miracle stones where we live, but there are "memorials" all over the world that attest to the miracles God has done. Take Christmas for example. The real reason we celebrate Christmas is because Jesus was born-the Savior had come! What does the world make it out to be? A holiday dedicated to a gift-giving man in a red suit, and a reminder for the children to behave themselves.

Are we ignoring the memorials dedicated to God? Are we telling people what they really mean? Or is everything just a pile of stones now?


---Joy