Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for this daily challenge. It’s Thursday, the day we try to apply and live out what we’ve learned this week from the Bible. This week we’ve been studying the story of the Israelites finally entering the Promised Land, with God parting the waters of the Jordan River so they could walk right through.  Afterwards, they set up a monument of twelve stones to remind them of what God had done.

But what had God done?  This week is about God being good, yet the Bible says God had them build this monument so that people would fear him.

In the Bible, fear doesn’t always mean terror, but denotes more of a respect for power.  God wanted people to fear him—to give him the worship and service he deserved. He wanted his people to remember and acknowledge what he’d done for them, and not act as if they’d done it themselves.

A big part of God’s goodness is that he is to be feared, he is different and powerful from us.  He has every capacity and reason to be angry with Israel, or the human race, and yet he chooses to be good to Israel and humanity in general.

Israel knows this better than anyone, and needs to remember.  They’ve experienced God’s goodness more than anyone, and are more aware of their unworthiness than most.  So, this stone monument was important!

This wouldn’t just be for them, but for their children.  Future generations were meant to learn about God’s great deeds through this monument.  As they walked past, you can imagine children asking about the monument’s purpose, and the stories that would be told.

Think a little about what good things God has done in your life.  How can you remember them?  How will your children, grandchildren, or others in your life know that you credit God with having done those things?

This monument was a personal reminder, a family reminder, and a public reminder of all that God had done for Israel.  In times of darkness, it’s often helpful to rest in the truth of what we have experienced in the past.

It’s important to REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE. For the Israelites, that meant creating a visual reminder that those rocks they saw came from a dried-up riverbed. For you, it may be a visual, written, spoken, or acted out reminder. Whatever works best for you, just make sure you’re ready to REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE, give thanks to him, and make known among the nations what he has done.

Challenge: Choose one: Put an item in your purse or wallet, such as a petal from a flower or a word written on a sticky note, to remind you of what God has done for you.  OR Start a “memory jar”—try to add one “God Sighting” to a jar, bowl, or vase each day. At the end of the week, dump out the contents and remember what God has done that week.