Joshua 3:1-4:24, Luke 14:7-35, Palms 80:1-19, Proverbs 12:27-28
Today is the 11th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we move our way to the back half of the week and enter into the 101st day of our year together. Yesterday we finished the Torah or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible and we began the book of Joshua and we’re just getting going, but this is a new era in the story. Today, today we will be crossing the Jordan River into the promised land. So, we’re reading from the New International Version this week. Joshua chapter 3 and 4.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we crossed over the Jordan River into the promised land today and you can just see the scene. A hoard of people crossing the Jordan River and setting up camp on the other side while everyone in the land is terrified, the closest city being Jericho. And, so, they would be on high alert. And what do we see happen here? Because what we see happen here is something we’ve been seeing happen and we will continue to see happen. So, the children of Israel, all of the tribes, they get to the other side of the Jordan River and what are they instructed to do? They’re instructed to bring 12 stones out of the Jordan River and stack them up representing the 12 tribes of Israel and that monument being stocked up, that pile of rocks as it were, is meant to be a memorial so that when future generations passed by, they can ask, “why are these pile of rocks here” and the story can be told. Oh, the pile of rocks is here because this is where we crossed the Jordan River. God dried it up and we crossed into this land, our homeland. The idea of creating a monument so that you do not forget what happened there continues until today, I imagine in all of our societies. I am most familiar with the culture that I live in here in the United States, but I’ve been all over the world, I’ve been in all kinds of different cultures and I’ve seen this very thing in all of them. So, like, there’s a battlefield not too far from where I live, there’s a monument because the battle happened there. It’s been erected and placed there because it’s a part of our American history, and it’s left so that we, the future generations, and those in the future who come by this place and see this monument and wonder what happened there will be able to find out what happened there. I’ve seen this in all kinds of cultures. I’ve been at genocide memorials all throughout the country of Rwanda in back villages far, far away from main roads even or places where things happen that shouldn’t be forgotten are kept as a memorial to remember. This is one of the reasons that we so deeply encourage journaling in some way as you take the adventure through the Bible and make it the rhythm of your life. If something is happening in your life that you need to not forget, or the Bible is speaking, God is speaking to you in some way, you should write it down so that you don’t forget because then you can review and see the monuments in your own life to God’s faithfulness. When you were standing at that battlefield and didn’t know what was going to happen and then it worked out or you had to depend on God for dear life and you didn’t know how you’re going to make it, but you did. Those are memorials. Those are piling up the rocks so that you do not forget who you are and where you’ve come from and who God is, which has been ultimately the message of the wilderness, which is ultimately the message of any wilderness we face. So, we’ve tried to bake this idea into the culture of the Daily Audio Bible community as much as we can. I mean, you can’t just pound things over and over and over and over until they’re not heard anymore, but this idea of remembering where you’ve come from and writing it down as you’re going to the Bible is part of our culture. You can take notes every day just using the Daily Audio Bible app, just little things that you might want to jot down that you don’t want to forget, just like a scratchpad, but we have also designed carefully and intentionally the Daily Audio Bible Journal and it doesn’t have a bunch…it’s not to instruct you…like, here’s how to make your life more efficient. It’s just there for you to write down whatever it is that becomes apparent to you as some sort of revelation or some sort of memorial to kind of Journal your way through your life and see what God has done and know that in future generations your story can still be told. And it may be your story of God’s faithfulness that actually sets right your great, great, great grandchildren. Who knows? So, yeah, the Daily Audio Bible Journal as well as all of the black wing line of pencils, that’s what I use. I found those as my mom was in her final months of her life and I thought they were so fun…I…just so interesting to think…ha…I haven’t written with a pencil since I was in elementary school. What would writing with the best pencil that can be made, what would that be like? And I just found a love for it. And, so, now I like to Journal in my own hand. I used to do it digitally, but I found that I journaled far less digitally. To just sit down and in my own hand, write my own story…yeah…there’s something to it. And we see this established, this rhythm, this idea, this concept in the Scriptures. And we see it very clearly as we crossed the Jordan River today. So, all these resources are available in the Daily Audio Bible shop, but it doesn’t take the Daily Audio Bible shop to write down your life. You can use the Daily Audio Bible app Journal free, no problem. All you need’s a piece of paper and something to write with, right, and a way to collect it. But it’s good to find a way to journal your way through the Bible. If God’s gonna speak to you, you should take notes. So, check that out.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for bringing us this far for giving us tools, practical tools like this, to chronicle the journey that we are on together with You. And as we just simply look back over the first 100 days of this year we can think of some things that You’ve spoken to us and then we can think of other things that were important, but we can’t quite remember because it’s getting just out of sight. And if we haven’t written down then it’s just becoming a part of the tapestry of our lives, rather than something that we can actually intentionally go back to and relearn and recommit ourselves to. So, we’re taking Your encouragement that we find in the Scriptures today to be more intentional about remembering what it is You’re speaking to us and what it is Your…how it is that You are leading us. Help us to understand what placing memorial stones in our lives would practically look like. Help us to know how it is that we can create remembrances that we need so that as we pass by that territory again we remember what You’ve done, and so as future generations may pass by the story can be told. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
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Today begins the More Gathering for women. And, so, we have been here on Sharp Top mountain preparing for that since last evening and all of the buses and flights and cars will be arriving today for the beginning of the More Gathering. And, so, yet again, I just call out to the community here. Pray, ask God to put a bubble over the top of this mountain, where his Holy Spirit is just hovering. That is our prayer and we thank you for standing together with us as we move into the a More Gathering for women. It has been planned out for so long, it’s finally here. So, thank you for your prayers.
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And that is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.