And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.
Joshua Constructs An Extra Memorial
What just happened? What is Joshua doing? Did God command Joshua to build a second memorial in the middle of the Jordan River? Did we miss that verse?
Joshua, on his own initiative, as a token of his love and thankfulness to God who had delivered them to the Promised land, now builds an extra memorial. At the place where the priest who carried the ark of the covenant across stood and waited for the people to pass. He does more than God asked him to do, more than just the minimal in fulfilling the command.
Is that allowed? He erects a hidden, private memorial. Once the waters flowed back it wouldn’t be seen. The visible memorial would be in Gilgal in the campground. All would see it there, it would be a public memorial. But this extra, personal memorial Joshua built just for the Lord. It would be covered by the river, seeming lost, but God would know exactly where it stood. And even to this day, no matter how many floods have shifted and swept the stones that Joshua used that day, God knows where every single memorial stone is in that river.
Constructing Your Personal Memorial
What a lesson Joshua teaches us here. I can admire Joshua as the leader of God’s army. I can watch with amazement as he tells the people to shout and the priest to blow the trumpet and the wall of Jericho falls flat. But I’ll never do those things. But this action, this memorial building, I can do.
Is my desire to only do the minimum for God? Is my devotion used up after only doing the least that God asks me to do?
Is church attendance on Sunday morning all there is? We are not commanded to attend more than one service on Sundays. And many today do not bother. The minimum is enough for them.
What about our worship? Are personal devotions, Bible reading and prayer at home asking too much. Is Sunday the only time I really look into God’s word, pray or sing praises to my Savior.
What about salvation itself? Is mine enough? Do I have to do more than just believe for myself. Are there not others who need Jesus, and need to know the peace of forgiveness and the joy of worship our Savior? The minimum, the nominal, the path of least resistance will get you into heaven, but it is not they way our own personal memorials to the God we love, are built.
Look at Joshua there standing in the dry Jordan river bed. As the whole nation of Israel passed by. As the men of the tribes gather the stones to build the visible memorial in Gilgal, he quietly and purposely searches for just the right stones to build into his own personal, extra memorial. I can’t help but think that with each stone, he gathered and built into his own memorial, he thought of a work of God, a miracle of deliverance, a day of manna, a fountain of water spring from a dry rock. The memorial he built was his thanksgiving, it was his act of worship and it was a visible act of his love assembled in the sight of God.
Can you understand the heart of Joshua? For the follower of God, the minimum is never enough. God didn’t deliver His people with just the minimum. Jesus did not save us with just the minimum. In the love and grace, God overwhelmed the wilderness and the enemies of Israel. In that same love and grace Jesus gave all, His life, His suffering, His promise of eternity.
What of us? Are you willing to erect both the hidden and visible memorials, the expected and the extra, the public and the private in your commitment and devotion to God?
D. L. Moody had a famous life quote, “The most I can do for God is the least I will do for God.” – D. L. Moody
The Memorial Jesus Built
Centuries later there was another Joshua who built the greatest memorial of all time and eternity. He was named Joshua by His Father in Heaven but we know Him by the Greek equivalent of that name, Jesus. Like the Old Testament Joshua, Yeshua built both a hidden and a visible memorial. He built the hidden memorial with his apostles and friends lives. With people like Peter, John, James, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He also built the public in his preaching and miracles. The hidden there in the Garden of Gethsemane and the public on the Hill of Calvary. He gave His life completely and with his death built a memorial of grace for all mankind, for all eternity.
He declared in John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
His life poured out on the cross was the ultimate memorial. When we see that memorial in the Gospel, we realize what God has truly done.
Can we, who have seen that eternal memorial, then only give the minimum to the One who has given us His only begotten Son? Can we give only what is visible to the One who gave us forgiveness of sin? Can we give only some of our life to the One what has given us eternal life?
Conclusion:
I want you to ask yourself, what kind of memorials are you building with your life and with your obedience? What will you leave behind for others to see? what will they know of God by the memorials you build are building with the stones of your actions, decisions and commitments?
