History Lesson Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: History Lesson -------------------------- Date: 8/5/2002 Keyword: "history" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Joshua 4:1-7* 1. Now when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, 2. “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, 3. and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight.’” 4. So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; 5. and Joshua said to them, “Cross again to the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 6. Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?” 7. then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off from the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever. Questions 1. Who was responsible for the Israelites being able to cross the Jordan River?   2. Why did Joshua order 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan be set up on the western side of the river in Canaan?   Practical help “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat history’s mistakes.” That is a relatively modern quote, but Joshua was well acquainted with the concept in the 15th century, B.C. He understood that key victories were to be both celebrated and memorialized. Such intentional remembering of past divinely wrought victories serves a nation (and an individual) in the days of trial. When hard times of affliction or temptation strike, it is all too easy to forget victories won and progress made. Setting up a pillar of stones taken from the Jordan would both remind the Israelites in the days to come of God’s mighty power on their behalf and strengthen them to press on toward more and greater victories. When you face the day of great temptation to surf to pornographic Web sites, you will do well to remember Joshua’s wise strategy. Any small or large victory you have ever had in the past over sexual sin is a building block for victory today. Remember God’s deliverance in the past. Memorialize it. Write down the story of how God helped you resist temptation. Plant a tree in honor of that deliverance. Do something that will help you remember that failure is not inevitable. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." ---