Meditation
Good morning, Reader,
The true value of an object or a possession is often uncovered at someone's death. By this I don't necessarily mean its financial value, but rather what we call its sentimental value.
The physical things you leave behind, a piece of furniture, a journal, a specific ring, carry weight when they're attached to a meaningful story or memory someone can repeat.
Today's verses are very instructive. Joshua commanded twelve men to carry twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, and stack them where they camped that night.
He didn't do this for structural or practical reasons. But purely so that, generations later, a child would ask, "What do these stones mean?" and get a chance to hear the whole story of what God had done to bring the Israelites into the land
A possession, however prized by the owner, is often just clutter to the receiver, with no personal story attached to enrich it with memory.
A possession with a story is a memorial stone.
The book that is the inspiration for this season, "Our Eternal Inheritance" by Cory Westman, repeatedly comes back to this theme: leaving a legacy and an inheritance is an intentional gift, not just of assets and objects, but of a story.
An enduring story of legacy and faith. When we pair our stories with our possessions, we create eternal value.
Today's verses are Joshua 4:1–7.
4
When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”
4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe,5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,6 to serve as a sign among you.
In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.
These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Encouragement
4 We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.
Psalm 78:4
Andy
God's Word In Your Hand