“FROM THE VERY PLACE!”

 

Joshua 4:1-3                                    (ESV)

Twelve Memorial Stones from the Jordan

“[1] When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, [2] “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, [3] and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, “FROM THE VERY PLACE” where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’””

The Children of Israel were about to enter THE PROMISED LAND, a land that GOD had PROMISED to give to the descendants (Genesis 15:18-21) of Abraham hundreds of years prior.  The WORD OF GOD “IS” TRUTH (John 14:6) and it NEVER FAILS, regardless of the timing of the deliverance.  Taking twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan River wasn’t just symbolic, it was to prove to the descendants of those being DELIVERED that it took DIVINE INTERVENTION and PROVIDENCE “interceding” on their behalf for their deliverance to occur!  “GOD HAD TO DO IT” might have been put on a banner preceding the Israelites???

Getting the Children of Israel into the Promised Land could have been considered an end of the journey for some, but ALMIGHTY GOD didn’t want HIS “followers” to FORGET HIS HAND in their deliverance.  TWELVE STONES were taken from the Jordan River so “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. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a MEMORIAL FOREVER.”

YAHWEH had no intentions of allowing HIS DELIVERANCE to be forgotten, nor under appreciated!  HE explicitly instructed Joshua to tell the twelve people CHOSEN to remove the stones from the Jordan to remove the stones “FROM THE VERY PLACE” where the priests’ feet stood firmly!  ALMIGHTY GOD apparently KNEW that the offspring might become so busy with the cares of “this world” that they would allow themselves to become callous to THEIR DELIVERER!  PERHAPS if they had STONES “FROM THE VERY PLACE”, they would be able to SEE what HE had performed ON THEIR BEHALF?

While it is TRUTH that the Promised Land was given to Israel by the CREATOR, they haven’t always remembered the stones taken “FROM THE VERY PLACE”!  But do I need STONES to remind me of how GOD DELIVERED me through some VERY DIFFICULT times?  How could ANYONES EYES not SEE that ESPECIALLY me is BLESSED beyond measure because of what ONLY GOD has done in my life?  Perhaps I might remember where I have been from time to time, but permitting others to SEE that ALMIGHTY GOD DELIVERED me “FROM THE VERY PLACE” shall be FOREVER on a monument, not because I deserve it, but because HE DOES!!!