Talking Rocks

I am not a big fan of being alone at home for long periods of time. I used to love it when my family would leave for the day and I could just read and read and read. I could usually go to sleep without too much trouble. But NOW that I am married, I hear every noise, every shifting of the house. I've been reading a Frank Peretti book off and on all day and my eyes are about to fall out of my skull.

     Today I felt the need to read something else. That familiar tug that drew me back to the Words that will endure forever, that will never lose relevance.

Randomly I started reading towards the end of Joshua, where God is parcelling out the land that he has given Israel. The details are so beautiful.

Joshua begins by setting up cities of refuge- where people who committed accidental murders could run and not be killed by the deceased person's family. It struck me how simple and yet beautiful God's plans are. He created peace by giving a sanctuary to those who had made such an aggegious mistake. He stopped the chain of events that would certainly be fueled by hate and grief and brought peace to the situation.

Then I kept reading. In Joshua 23, Joshua speaks his final words to Israel. He has come to the end of his life and he knows it. So he does what a father would do, what a leader would do, what any man who had shepherded a whole people group and followed in the footsteps of Moses would do...

He gives them their commission. Just as Moses gave him a great commission, he commissions the entire tribe.

"Soon I will die, going the way of all the earth. Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single one has failed! But as surely as the Lord your God has given you the good things he promised, he will also bring disaster on you if you disobey him. He will completely wipe you out from this good land he has given you. If you break the covenant of the Lord your Godby worshipping and serving other gods, his anger will burn against you, and you will quickly be wiped out from the good land he has given you." Josh 23: 14-16

First of all, how incredible is it that God brought every promise to fruition in the lives of his people? Wow. He kept his word completely in faithfulness. Second of all, Joshua is pretty blunt eh? No nonsense where disobedience is concerned!

After reminding the people of the faithfulness of God and the necessity to keep his covenant, he reviews the vast and complex history that brought them to where they are at that moment.
   He has labored and saved a complaining, moaning and rebellious people. God has extended grace upon grace.

"It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory. I gave you cities you did not build- the cities in which you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them."
   Oh Lord, isn't that my prayer? That you would give me an inheritance in this place? That you would allow me to build upon the legacy others have left? That you would show me spiritual vineyards and olive groves ready for the picking?

Then Joshua gives the people a choice. God has been faithful to them despite everything. Everything.
Now the people have a choice. They can make a covenant with the Holy, Jealous God of the universe or they can turn to false gods. There really isn't a choice because God will destroy them if they take the latter and they will inevitably fail with the first option. But I can imagine that Joshua asked so that they were personally responsible for their commitment to God. It wasn't going to be their leader's faith or the Levites faith, they needed to own it if they were going to remain faithful once Joshua was gone.

The people chose to follow God(Smart choice) and Joshua made a covenant with the people "committing them to a permanent and binding contract between themselves and the Lord." (23:25b)

But Joshua was a smart leader. He knew how quickly people forget their commitments after an emotional experience. Perhaps he had struggled to stay faithful himself.
 
   So Joshua took a rock.

I have no idea why he took a rock but that is what he did.

He took a big ol' rock and rolled it under the oak tree, right where everyone would see it on the way to the tabernacle. There was no going to the meeting place of the Most High without remembering the commitment they had made.

This is the part I love.

"This stone has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word to God. "

Part of me thinks this is pretty funny. Common Josh, a stone?! Everyone knows rocks can't talk.... Isn't that where we get the expression, "dumb as a rock." But then I remember this. I remember that Jesus said if we are silent and don't proclaim is name, even the rocks will cry out! Maybe they aren't as dumb as we think.

Sometimes I forget to see the stone. Sometimes I forget that the very walls of this house hear and see my daily communion with God. These walls bear witness to the time I have spent just wasting time. They bear witness to my good intentions that never happen. They see my worship and my prayers but they don't see or hear those enough.

If these walls could talk I am not sure I would want to know what they have to say.

Have I forgotten the commitment, the covenant I made with the Jealous fierce warrior-King that loves me deeper and more fully than I can imagine?

It isn't the rock that is important but the remembering. It is grace that gives a reminder in the first place. Because He knew/knows that we would/will forget and so he surrounds us with reminders simple, clear and beautiful.

Let the walls of my house be rocks of remembrance. May the scriptures I put up be coordinates to guide my daily living.