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.”
Joshua 4:4-7
There’s a popular meme/phrase that has become popular recently that goes ‘New Core Memory Unlocked.” It stems from the Disney movie Inside Out, which explores a fictional representation of emotions and memories in the mind of a young girl. The idea is that life has certain ‘core memories’ that stick with us – things that we will always be able to recall with great detail no matter how much time passes. Core memories are things that, in a large part, shape our lives, both good and bad. A core memory of a parent or grandparent reading the bible and praying, for example, may set you on a path to mature Christian faith. A memory of a dog snapping at you aggressively as a small child, however, might lead to a fear of dogs. Our experiences, and our memories of those experiences, are a big part of who we are and who we are becoming.
When the Hebrews cross over the Jordan to enter into the promised land for the first time after their 40 years of wandering in the desert, they unlock a core memory. This core memory is of God pushing back the overflowing waters of the Jordan so they could pass by on dry land. It’s a memory that starts with the priests walking the ark of the covenant into those flooded waters and God drying up the river so the nation could pass while the priests stood in the middle. Joshua commands some of the leaders to gather some rocks from the river and carry them to their camp where they stacked them as a monument (an ebenezer – one of those great words that you can’t just mix into a conversation easily!). This was to stand as a permanent reminder of what God had done and the power of what God can do.
As you think back to the core memories of your life of faith, what are your ebenezers? What experiences stand out? What markers do you hold to remind you? Maybe you carry around the bulletin from a sermon long forgotten by the preacher but clear in your mind. Maybe you have a bible that was gifted to you by the church or a loved one. Maybe it’s a worn out pocket sized cross that you found your parent’s belongings when they passed. What are those experiences? What are those reminders?
Friends, today I encourage you to look for those ebenezers of faith. Look for those core memories that remind you of what God has done for you, what He is doing in you, and the promise of His power and presence in the life yet before you and beyond. Take those core memories as a reminder of God’s faithfulness and love to you and a renewed charge of your faithfulness and love to Him. May God remind you today that you are loved and that He longs to be loved by you in return!