Most countries have various memorials in places throughout their country. I have visited my nation’s capital, Washington D.C., several times, and seen the many memorials and monuments there to remind us of people and events in the past. Gettysburg and other Civil War battlefields have memorials to remind us of historic events. Families have various ways to remind themselves of important events in their past, as well. In our Old Testament reading from this week’s Lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer we read of a memorial that the people set up to remind them of what God had done for them.
As our passage opens, the people of Israel are ready to enter into the land of Canaan, the land that the Lord God had promised them. God had rescued them, bringing them out of captivity in Egypt, and they had spent many years journeying through the wilderness. When they had left Egypt, and the whole Egyptian army was in pursuit of them, the Lord God provided a great miracle of deliverance for them by parting the waters of the Red Sea for them to pass safely over (Exodus 14:13-31). Throughout the years of wandering in the wilderness, the Lord provided for their every need. Now they had arrived on the west side of the River Jordan, preparing to cross and enter the Promised Land.
The Jordan River is approximately 156 miles long, starting in the north near the border of Lebanon, and ending in the Dead Sea in the south. It is not generally a big river, varying in depth from 3 to 10 feet deep, and about 100 feet wide. However, when the Israelites were to cross the river it was during the spring flooding season. What were the people to do? They were just opposite the river from the city of Jericho. They couldn’t journey many miles north to a smaller crossing. Nor did they want to wait until the flood stage passed, as the Lord wanted them to celebrate the Passover in the Promised Land. It was here that the Lord God provided them with another miracle, similar to the one He provided them at the Red Sea. He parted the Jordan River for the people to pass over to the other side (Joshua 3:14-17).
How quickly we forget the blessings, answers to prayer, and even miracles from the Lord. Joshua did not want the people to forget exactly how God brought them into the land of Canaan, so he instructed one man from each of the twelve tribes to retrieve a large rock from the river. They were to set the rocks in a tower-like monument to remind the people exactly what had happened here, when the Lord stopped the waters of the Jordan River in order for the people to cross on dry ground. Years later, when their children and grandchildren would ask what was the meaning of the tower of rocks, they would be told how God provided a miracle for the people to cross the river and enter the Promised Land.
How do we remember special blessings from the Lord in our lives? Many people keep a prayer journal where they write down things they have been praying for, and then the answers to these prayers, along with the date. Perhaps it would be good to have something even more concrete to remind us of some special answer to prayer, one that people could even look at and ask what it means. That way we could say, just like the Israelites of old did, that this is here to remind me of how God answered this or that certain prayer, or remind me of how God provided this or that for me when I had a real need.
It is so easy to forget the Lord’s blessings. The people of Israel so quickly forget, even with various monuments there to remind them. They forgot and quickly fell into idolatry, bringing judgment upon themselves. We, too, quickly forget when God answers our prayers, and start into grumbling and moaning our situation in life or fall into worldly living. God wants the whole world to know Him. If they hear us tell of His mighty deeds, then they will be drawn to want to know this great God we have. God will glorify Himself, and make His activities known through us. Let’s be sure to remember what God has done in our life, and then tell the generations to come about Him.
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