Use Your 'Stone'... To Bring About Good

Joshua 4:6-7 - to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 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.”

God had fulfilled his promise to Joshua and all the Israelites had crossed the high waters of the Jordan in flood stage…ON DRY GROUND!!!  But before they went any further…before the Ark and priests moved out of the river bed….God directed Joshua to tell one man from each tribe to get a stone from close to the priest’s feet.  As they piled them up in their camp that night…God told them that the rocks were to serve as a sign for every generation to follow….of the great miracle God had done for them that day.

It started me thinking of all the things God has done for me…and how important it is that I use those times he helped me to tell others about his love and grace. I am a firm believer that the hurts of our past are allowed ….in one capacity …. so that God can use your experience to bring about good later down the road. We become the fulfillment of Romans 8:28 that says…” And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

The stone we are to gather from our pain is not to be worn as a weight around our neck. It is to be positioned in a place where we will see it daily…so that it will remind us to tell others how God brought us through it to the other side.  Our Jordan’s are all different….but the God who brought us to the other side of that river is the same.

One last thought. Romans 10:14 says…. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” Some of the best sermons…aren’t from a fancy pulpit inside a church.  They can be simple stories …personal testimonies ….of how God dried up the river for you to get to the other side.

Father…thank you for the reminder that one of the best ways to share your love… is to share the story ..or stories…of how you have helped me through the roughest rivers of life.  Forgive me for the times that I forget that you can use every moment of pain I have felt to help someone else.  Open my eyes and heart and ears to every opportunity to share the love you have shown to me with others.   Amen.