God's Goodness
Throughout Scripture, stones were set up to remind people of God’s presence and work. Isaac’s son, Jacob, did this. Having left his home fleeing his enraged twin brother, Jacob stopped for the night and used a stone as a pillow. Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven with the Lord standing above the ladder while angels ascended and descended. In the dream, the Lord promised Jacob, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:15).
Jacob awoke from his sleep marveling, “Surely the LORD is in this place.” Rising early that morning, Jacob took the stone he had used as a pillow, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil over it to represent God’s presence and God’s promise.
As Jacob set up a stone to remember the truth of God’s presence, we can set up Scripture in our hearts by memorizing God’s promises to us such as, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
Fast forward from Jacob to the warrior, Joshua, who God used to lead the Israelites into the land God had promised them. Arriving at the banks of the Jordan River, Joshua followed God’s instructions. Miraculously, as soon as the feet of the priest who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into the edge of the river, the waters which were flowing down the river stopped flowing forward rising instead to form one high wall of water. The priest who carried the ark stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan River while all the Israelites crossed on dry ground. When the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord commanded twelve stones be brought from the middle of the Jordan and placed on the opposite side where the Israelites would lodge that night. Then God directed,
When your children ask their fathers in times to come, “What do these stones mean?” then you shall let your children know, “Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground”… so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever (Joshua 4:21-22, 24).
Once again using stones, God challenged the Israelite people to remember. He also added the responsibility to tell their children what the Lord had done for them.
Let us remind ourselves and inform the world of the presence and goodness of God. “Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!” (Psalm 81:1).
God's Warnings
God allowed the Israelite people to enter the promised land, defeat the fortified city of Jericho, capture cities, destroy kings, and take possession of the land as their own. After these things had taken place, Joshua, God’s chosen leader, addressed the people by reviewing all the Lord God had done for them concluding with these words:
Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. … choose this day whom you will serve, … But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:14-15)
In response to this exhortation the people replied, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey” (Joshua 24:24b).
Joshua wrote these words of promise spoken by the Israelites in the book of the law of God, and setting up a large stone by the sanctuary, Joshua proclaimed,
Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God (Joshua 24:27b).
The stone would be a perpetual reminder of God’s warning to the Israelites not to turn away from Him.
God also gives warnings to us today which are found throughout Scripture. Desiring the best for Christ’s followers and knowing we live with a sinful bent in a fallen world, God’s warnings are meant to protect us and instruct us how to live. He tells us, “but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).
Our choices are important. Rather than responding and reacting to life based on our emotions or the words and actions of others, we must consider what honors God. We are called to obediently respond and pursue life rightly before God. God repeats this warning again in Ephesians 5:15, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.”
We are wise when we live life obeying and honoring God because we grasp that He alone is our Creator and knows all things. Another instructional warning is found in Romans.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).
We must not allow evil to pressure or convince us that embracing worldly ideas like humanism, impurity, and dishonesty is acceptable. Instead, we are to hold fast to God’s word that proclaims God is sovereign, purity is essential, and truth is not discretionary. When followers of Christ focus upon and obey God’s Word, God uses us to reveal to others that His will is good, acceptable, and perfect.
God’s warnings for us to obediently honor Him in all things orchestrate His best for us.
God's Victory
As years passed, Israel must have forgotten the stones set up by Jacob and Joshua that represented God’s goodness and God’s warnings, because Israel repeatedly turned away from God. Each time God allowed Israel to experience the consequence of being troubled by enemies. Graciously, God also provided someone to point the people back to Himself. Samuel was one of those God-appointed judges.
When the Philistines, long-time enemies of Israel, assembled to battle against the Israelites, Samuel cried out to the Lord for help.
As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel (1 Samuel 7:10).
It seems God used thunder to confuse the Philistines and bring victory to the Israelites. The victory was solely attributed to God’s intervention and not the skill or bravery of the Israelite soldiers. Knowing the Israelites needed to remember this fact, Samuel followed the practice of those before him: “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12).
This stone, set up by Samuel, marked the victory God had given the Israelites.
Today and every day, God calls us to remember the great victory over sin that Jesus Christ accomplished by dying on the cross to take the punishment for our sinful hearts, but do we actively grasp this victory daily?
The curse of sin demands everyone who sins pay the penalty of separation from God both now as we live upon this earth and permanently in sorrow and trouble for all eternity. We all are born with a sinful nature, living life our own way without considering God. To be separated from God would mean being blocked forever from all acceptance, goodness, peace, joy, and love – the very things we all crave. Though there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from sin’s curse, God mercifully made a way for our sin to be forgiven and we can escape the penalty sin demands.