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 before 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.”

8 Thus the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as the Lord spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the lodging place and put them down there. 9 Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day. 10 For the priests who carried the ark were standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hurried and crossed; 11 and when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed before the people. 12 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle array before the sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them; 13 about 40,000 equipped for war, crossed for battle before the Lord to the desert plains of Jericho.

14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so that they revered him, just as they had revered Moses all the days of his life.

15 Now the Lord said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony that they come up from the Jordan.” 17 So Joshua commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” 18 It came about when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks as before.

19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. 20 Those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21 He said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ 22 then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed; 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

New American Standard Version

There’s a lot to be learned here. When faced with a huge problem, and you’re trusting God, he goes before you to solve it. He lays the groundwork. You might speculate that even if the Lord peels back the water the river bed will still be too soft to walk. He makes sure it’s dry. You may worry about the vast number of people who have to cross and if the opening will be wide enough and how long it’ll stay open and whether the water will be released too soon. God knows what he’s doing. It’s interesting to note that the water was stopped some 16 miles upstream. The Israelites then did not see where and how God was at work. And he did so in this instance in flood season! It’s the same for us. We can’t see the where, when or how, but He goes before us.

Second, what he did in the past he can do in the future. He’s not a one-hit wonder. We seem to get into the same messes over and over. He can get us out of them over and over, and he might just do it the same way, hoping that we’ll pick up on his reliability. Case in point, both Elijah and Elisha crossed the same river under the same conditions (2 Kings 2:12).

Third, the Lord really wants us to remember past deliverances, so much so he uses visual aids. How can we erect memorials to his past assistance? Perhaps in a journal. Maybe something unique and creative. For example, God called for a memorial built to code. Joshua improvised and did an additional one of his own. Maybe he just wanted future generations to know when they saw the top of the stones in the river, it’d be an even greater testimony to God’s power. Whatever the case, the Lord did not object.

Finally, there’s no problem too great, too thorny, too difficult for God to fix. Somehow he’ll provide enough obvious direction to get you through it. The ark was carried to the middle of the Jordan for direction. He’ll do the same for us somehow. But it might be that the only direction we’ll have is that he’s done the same miracle before! One last thing. He will not pick us up and carry us. We need to make it through on our own two feet.