Sunday, August 2, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Joshua 4-5
Key Verse
Joshua 4:20 — “And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.”
Devotional Thought
What does this passage ask of you today? It asks you to remember. On the tenth day of the first month, Israel came up out of Jordan and camped at Gilgal, and God commanded Joshua to take twelve stones from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firm in the riverbed. Those stones were pitched in the camp as a sign, so that when children asked, “What mean ye by these stones?” fathers would tell the story of how the LORD dried up Jordan as He had dried up the Red sea. Memory is a duty, and it is also a mercy. Most of us do not build stone monuments, but we keep anniversaries, photographs, old letters, a grandmother’s Bible. This late-summer Sunday, with the year half gone, is a good day to ask whether we have told the next generation what God has done.
Notice that the stones were taken from the middle of the river, from the place of standing still. God’s people did not merely pass through difficulty; they stood in the middle of it while the ark held back the waters. Then they carried stones out of that place. Your hardest seasons may be exactly where God is asking you to gather memorial stones — evidence that He was faithful when the ground was dry and the waters were walled up. And there is a second pile: Joshua set twelve stones in the midst of Jordan itself, “and they are there unto this day.” Some memorials remain hidden in the water, known to God alone. Not every mercy is for public telling. Some are between you and Him.
At Gilgal the reproach of Egypt was rolled away, the Passover was kept, and the manna ceased because the old corn of the land was now theirs. God’s provision changes form, but it never fails. Then Joshua lifted up his eyes near Jericho and saw a man with a drawn sword. “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” The answer was neither: “as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come.” Joshua fell on his face, and the ground was called holy. Before the walls fell, the warrior learned to worship. Before your Jericho, before the battle you are dreading this week, the Captain has already come. Loose your shoe. Stand still. Remember.
Reflection
- What “stones” has God given you to set up as a memorial, and have you actually told anyone — especially the children in your life — what He did?
- When you face your own Jericho, do you first ask God to be on your side, or do you fall on your face and ask what your Lord would say to His servant?
Prayer
Lord God of hosts, Captain of the host of the LORD, we bow before You as Joshua did, and we loose the shoes from off our feet, for the ground where You meet us is holy. You cut off the waters of Jordan and brought Your people over on dry land; You rolled away the reproach of Egypt at Gilgal. Do the same for us. Roll away our shame, feed us with the good of the land, and let the manna cease only because You have given us better. Give us hearts that remember and tongues that tell our children what Your mighty hand has done, that all the earth may know, and that we may fear You forever. Amen.