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Answers for our Children (Joshua 4:21-24)


Scripture of the Day: Joshua 4:21-24

21 Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’23 For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. 24 He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever.”

When reading through scripture, I am often trying to pull out quibbles of information I can apply to my life today. Joshua, Chapter 4 provides an excellent example of just such a quibble:  Our children will ask questions…always wanting to know the meaning of things – and we need to have a “why” or a “what” prepared. And how much better our answers are when we include God in their reasoning!   

As the Israelites are crossing the Jordan, God tells Joshua to place 12 stones in the river as a visual sign of the miracle of them crossing it on dry ground. The visual sign is there so that even when future generations may forget to talk to their children about God’s power, their children will see the stones and ask what they are from.

The great thing is this conversations takes place exactly when this event happens. The people are provided with an answer for their children and for themselves in God’s reasoning as soon as they cross the Jordan on dry ground. It may be years before children ask the question, but the answer is already given. The key thing, as it always is, is to remember the answer, and that the stones represent more than 12 tribes, they are a sign “so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever” (v.24).

We may not have those visual stones in our lives today, but when God does miraculous things in our lives, or even seeming mundane things, we should make a mental note of an explanation we can give our children when they ask why such and such happened, or what such and such means. Having an answer ready will glorify God, and hopefully teach our children to do the same.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for teaching us it is important to have answers ready for our children. Their minds are always eager and what better way to teach them about You than by preparing answers ahead of time so that we are not caught off guard (at least some of the time)! Please help nudge us to be aware of situations that may someday be “teachable” to our children and to see Your hand in all that we do. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

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