Reminders Of God’s Faithfulness
BRD REFLECTIONS:
Joshua 4:1-24 and Psalm 4 (NIV)
(Kenneth Lim, SGM Zone Core Team Member)
READ:
Joshua 4:1-24 (NIV)
OBSERVE:
In Joshua 3, God stopped the flow of the Jordan so that the Israelites could cross it. In Joshua 4, God tells Joshua to instruct one man from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to take one stone each from the middle of the Jordan and put them down at the place where the Israelites were to camp that evening, as a reminder to future generations of what God had done.
APPLY:
Reminders seem to be important in the story of the Israelites: the keeping of the Passover as a reminder of God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt, the keeping of an omer of manna as a reminder of the bread God gave the Israelites in the wilderness, and in Joshua 4, the 12 stones carried out from the Jordan served as a reminder of the time when God stopped the flow of the Jordan to allow the Israelites to cross into the Promised Land.
Like the Israelites, I am in constant need of reminders. I need them in a secular, everyday sense, amidst the never-ending marathon of meetings I must attend for both work and ministry. I praise God then for my Outlook calendar.
But I need them even more so in a deep, spiritual sense, amidst the ever-increasing magnitude of responsibilities and obligations that find their way into my life, and which make it easy for me to feel worried or overwhelmed. I praise God then for the many reminders of His faithfulness in my life that I can still hold on to today, like a picture of my small group from a decade ago on my Facebook feed, reminding me of how much God has brought us through. I praise God also for the many reminders of His faithfulness to His covenant people in His word, and the tremendous blessing of being grafted into the “olive tree” of God’s people, so that I can now claim even God’s reminder to the Israelites in Joshua 4 as a reminder to me as well.
DO:
I will continue to meditate upon the faithfulness God has shown me, both in my life and through scripture. I will also continue to remind my brothers and sisters around me of how God has been faithful to them, so that they may be upheld in the faith. Most of all, just like the Israelites who left behind reminders of God’s faithfulness for their descendants, I hope that I can also leave behind stories and memories of God’s faithfulness in my life for my own son, so that he may learn to lean on God in all things.
PRAY:
Dear God, thank You for the many reminders of Your faithfulness to us, both in our lives and in Your word. Help us not to be a forgetful people, but to remember and be grateful each day for all that You have done for us. Compel us to speak boldly and unceasingly to our children, friends, neighbors and co-workers of Your unfailing love for us, as demonstrated in Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
