If you've known Kari and I for very long, you may have heard us talk about our rock collection. No, we don't have a bucket of gravel in the garage that we gaze at from time to time. As far as I know, we don't have one single rock on display anywhere in our house. But make no mistake, we have a rock collection, and it's worth more than you could give us for it.
Allow me to explain.
In the Old Testament, when the situation was bleak, and God showed up in a big way, those who were involved had a "tradition" of setting up rocks as memorials to God's faithfulness during those times. Jacob did it after he had his famous "Jacob's ladder" dream in Genesis 28. He set up the stone pillow he had been sleeping on as a memorial so that he would always remember that God was in that place.
When God defeated the Philistine army using a thunderstorm, Samual set up a rock and called it "Ebenezer" saying "this far the Lord has helped us." (1 Samuel 7)
Joshua is another example. When the Israelite people crossed over the Jordan river on dry ground en route to the Promised Land, Joshua stacked 12 river boulders on top of each other so that when their descendants ask "What do these stones mean," the Israelites could recount the story of God's faithfulness despite difficult times (Joshua 4).
Kari and I don't own a single rock, but we've got a tremendous rock collection. You should too. There's no encouragement like the encouragement of looking back and seeing the hundreds of places God has been faithful in the past, even despite difficult circumstances.
So start your own rock collection, beginning today. Put it down on paper so that you, just like Joshua, can tell your grandkids "that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God."
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