"We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘Wha t do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.” (Joshua 4:6–7, NLT)
I'm not sure how long those two piles of rocks--one in the middle of the Jordan River and one on the bank on the Canaan side--stood there. I do know I would like to have some recordings of the conversations that took place around them. Can you imagine having heard the tale from the last surviving Jordan-Crosser? I can see the old woman or man, seated on a rock, with a bunch of kids around in a circle seated on the ground. Behind them older siblings and adults.
"We didn't know what to think when Joshua gave us the order to march. This river was roaring along at flood stage. You see those marks on those rocks, way above where the water is now. That's about where the water was running that day. It looked like we were just going to walk right into that river and be drowned. I was just a child and I was scared. I clung to my dad and he was plenty afraid. . . ."
 But God opened the way, and God led them through, and He made a way for them in the new land. Those two piles of stones were there for the express purpose of fomenting those kinds of conversations. It was one of those times when it was a good thing for God's people to look back and remember.
In the New Testament the Lord left a memorial for His church. We call it communion. ". . . 'do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes." (1 Corinthians 11:25–26, NASB)
It is good to look back and remember the victories the Lord has given us. When David was faced with the task of killing a giant he was greatly encouraged by remembering his past victory over a lion and a bear. From time to time it is good to pile up some rocks to remind us of the "Great things He has done."
It's STTA
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