Pinedale Student Ministries

Read Joshua 4:1-7.

Not that long ago my sister got engaged. It was a beautiful, long-awaited, much anticipated moment. It was a day worth celebrating. Her now husband did a great job at being “Mr. Romantic.” They were in New York City and spending the afternoon of New Year’s Eve taking the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Once on Ellis Island, he bought a souvenir key chain, put the ring on it and gave it to her. It took a moment for her to realize there was something far more valuable than a key chain involved in this gift. When she finally saw the ring, he got down on one knee to ask her to be his wife.
What a story, right? Are you guys out there taking notes?

Moments before the BIG moment, he asked a random person to take their picture in front of the Statue of Liberty. It is a great picture, partly because of the view behind them, but mostly because anyone who knows the story, knows this was taken just minutes before it all changed. This picture marks something much more significant than a good photo-op. It marks a moment. It marks an event. It marks a place where something big happened, so big it was worth stopping a few minutes to take note of it. Stop. Pause. Drink it in. Something substantial is unfolding.

It seems that for the most part we get this concept. We love taking pictures. We love making them wallpaper, screen savers, or backgrounds; putting them in frames, in collages, in the house, in the office, in the locker. We like to have things around us that trigger our memories—those mementos from a day, a story or a vacation that prompt people to ask, “What is this from?” “Where were you?” “When did this happen?” Pictures trigger questions, and when asked questions, we have the opportunity to recall what that picture captures.

We aren’t the only ones to get this idea. God authored the concept, and trained the nation of Israel to get into the habit of setting up reminders, triggers to remember what happened before and why it was worth calling to mind every now and again.

From the verses we just read in Joshua (if you didn’t read them, go back and read Joshua 4:1-7), we see one of the first times God instructs Israel to get in the discipline of remembering. God had just parted the waters for the Hebrew people, for the second time in their history (the first being the parting of the Red Sea when delivering them from slavery in Egypt). And God wanted to make sure that when they passed this place again, there would be some sort of souvenir, some sort of memento that brought to mind the significance of what took place on the banks of the Jordan River.

“These stones,” God instructs, “are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

They are to stay where they are so that the current generation’s children will see them, will ask them, what do these stones mean? Why are they here? What happened? And the people can answer, “Here, right here, is where God came through for us. He delivered us, again, exactly when we were desperate for it. He brought us out of the desert, into a land of our own. Here is where God provided. Here is where God was faithful. Here is where God showed up in a big way. Remember that. Don’t forget that. Whenever you see these stones, recall what happened here, and know that the God who worked here is still working in your midst.”

Like an ancient photograph, these stones were placed by the Jordan River with the hope of causing the Israelites to pause and trigger a memory. But this discipline is for more than just twelve wandering tribes in what would be today’s Middle East. This discipline is for us too. We might not need to set up orange traffic cones or move boulders to mark places where God did big things, but we do need to do something. Write it down. Carry a pebble in your pocket. Write out the verses you read today and put them some place where you will see them often. But get in the habit; embrace the discipline of remembering, of using physical reminders to jog your brain about the activity God is up to.

If we are not careful, we will miss where God is, and we will never take the time to look back. Looking back, remembering what God has done in the past, is a part of your story now; it gives you faith and confidence in our God for the future. Collect your stones, find your trigger. Do what it takes to get in the habit of remembering what God has done. And when you see your marker, take the time to thank Him for His activity, for His purposes and His plans prevailing through it all.

Take some time today and do a “spiritual inventory.”
Write down things that God has done in your life worth remembering.
What are some “markers” you can use to jog your memory on a regular basis to look back at God’s work?
Why do you think God wanted the Israelites to develop this discipline? Why is it important for us to develop this same discipline?

Here is an idea for a prayer to sum up this time with God:

God, thanks for teaching me the discipline of remembering and marking the big things in life. Help me to learn to look back to see Your hand at work in all things.