Are You a Stone in Someone's Life?

When you hear of someone being considered a "stone", do you think about it in terms of that person weighing another down? I wonder where that connotation came from?

Remember Moses? Remember how he led God's people out of Egypt and into the desert to wander for forty years? At the end of those forty years, Moses revealed that he would not be crossing the Jordan river with the people. Instead Moses died in the land of Moab just as God had revealed to him. Joshua had been declared their leader.

When Joshua led the people to the Jordan River, another miracle occurred. God revealed that He would make Joshua a great leader and that He would show the people that He was with Joshua, just as He had been with Moses. He instructed Joshua to have the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant take a few steps into the Jordan River and stop. So Joshua did as He was commanded. He told them the Ark of the Covenant would lead them across the Jordan. But he also told them to choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. Why? Please read on.

So the people followed Joshua's instruction. The priests' stepped into the river and the water above that point backed up a great distance. The water below flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then the people crossed over near the town of Jericho. *Note: the people had to maintain a sacred distance of about 1/2 mile from the Ark.

After everyone had crossed, God told Joshua to have a chosen twelve men return to the place where the priests had stood and each to bring one stone to the place where they would camp for the night. These stones were used to construct a memorial.

These stones commemmorated God's faithfulness to his people. Today, as I look at all the people in my life, my family, my friends, my church family, I am reminded that each is a stone in my life. And I pray that I am a stone to others.

Thanks for stopping by.
So why did Joshua instruct them to choose twelve men? They weren't the ones to carry the ark of the covenant--that was reserved for the priests who were to cross before them. The answer can be found in Joshua 4:2-3 "The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the lOrd of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall."

I'd like to think I'm a stone in someone else's life.