05 - The Importance of Remembering

Joshua 4:1 - 9 reads… ‘When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe ,and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight. So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 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, 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."

After leading the Israelites across the Red Sea, God delivers his people again in a supernatural miracle leading them across the River Jordan in similar style to before. God commands them to build a memorial to what He has done through His people, a memorial so that they remember where they came from; that they have been brought out of slavery and into freedom because of the faithfulness of their God. So frequently the Israelites grumbled because of the hardships they had to endure and had forgotten all the Lord had done for them already.
The Israelites were supposed to return to this memorial - called Gilgal - after each battle so that they remember what God has done. After success in Jericho the Israelites forget to return to the memorial at Gilgal and instead they continued straight forward to capture Ai, they in turn suffer a great defeat losing 36 men (Joshua 5:4 - 5). Israel had forgotten to submit to God and instead of moving in God’s power they moved in their own power and in their own strength; they had become proud. After every other battle they returned to Gilgal and showing a metaphorical symbol of falling on their knees in submission to God again, remembering that they must rely on Him alone. Incidentally they find success in so many future battles including victory over Ai.
These truths are so important for Christian living today, in particular the idea of submission. In a modern society which teaches us to survive at all costs and look out for yourself and only yourself, the word submission is synonymous with weakness and defeat. However in context of the Christian life submission could not be a more important idea to grasp and practice. We must continually submit our lives to Jesus and bring everything we have to the feet of Jesus; the man of submission is the man with blood stained knees, kneeling at the foot of the cross. Jesus indeed teaches us that if anyone who wishes to follow him must deny himself and take up his cross daily. Peter Reid comments ‘the fastest way to spiritual greatness is humility, however it is the road least taken.’

Thus submission is not a single act but a continual practise. Just as the Israelites would return continually to the Memorial of Gilgal after every victory, so we must continually return to Jesus with every decision, every worry and every victory we face in life. The sin of pride is what Israel was guilty of in this passage and we must remember the sin of pride is a prevailing issue for both non believers and believers alike and we must do as Peter says ‘Humble yourselves therefore under God’s mighty hand’ (1 Peter 5:6). It’s much less painful to humble ourselves then to let God do it for us, for there will come a day where every knee will bow. Let us not be standing upright in the foolishness of our own pride when it comes to that day, for surely if God so requires He will break our legs and our ankles and bring us to this place of kneeling before Him whether we like it or not. Let us continually practise humility and submission and wage war or our pride.

The Memorial of Gilgal was not just a symbol of submission but a means of reminding the people of God where they had come from; they had been brought of Egypt and were heading for the Promised Land. Thus we too must remember how far we have come from. It seems astonishing that once we were lost to ourselves and dead in our transgressions but through Christ Jesus we have new life, the ultimate display of his glory and grace. The hymn amazing grace expresses this so well… ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like, I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.’ Let us never forget indeed we were blind and lost but now were found in Christ, let us live in constant awareness of the great distance God has brought us, he taken us from the miry clay and set our feet upon a great rock! A writer wrote this about the life of Brother Lawrence, ‘the awareness of his unworthiness, kept him, on one hand, at the ready to accept anything that might lead to his improvement and, on the other hand, ever grateful for the favours and grace God constantly bestowed on him.’ Our salvation is truly the most unforgettable deed; let us never forget to walk in the reality of what it means. So let us ‘‘sing praise to the Lord who reigns in Zion. Tell the world about his unforgettable deeds,’ (Psalm 9:11).