Father, said the young lad, why are these twelve stones piled up here beside the river?
And this was the father’s answer: When you were very little, we came to this Jordan River and found that it had overflowed all its banks. It was a long way across, and there were thousands of us and we had no boats. But Joshua was our leader, and he had instructions from God, telling us what to do.
God had told us long ago exactly how to build an ark for Him. Now this ark is not a boat like Noah built. This ark is a beautiful golden box, built just as God had said, and He told the priests how to carry it. They were to carry it by poles on their shoulders, so that it rose above their heads as they walked.
When we reached the river, Joshua told the priests to carry the ark right into the middle of the river, and that’s what they did. As soon as their feet touched the water, God stopped the river from flowing and made it stand in a heap far away, so that the riverbed was dry. The priests walked into the dry riverbed and stood still right in the middle of it, and we all walked across safely on dry ground. But God told us not to get close to the ark. We stayed about half a mile away, but we could still see the ark there. We walked across that dry riverbed without being afraid that the river would start flowing again, because we knew God was holding the river back. The ark stayed there until every one of us was safely over to this shore, and then Joshua told the priests to come up out of the dry riverbed.
God told Joshua to choose twelve men to carry twelve stones from the place in the riverbed where the priests’ feet stood firm as they held the ark and make a pile of those twelve stones right here on the shore.
That is the meaning of the twelve stones that you see. And do you know something? God wanted you to ask that question, and He wanted me to answer it. He wanted us to remember all our lives what God did for us that day.
It is a good thing for children to ask questions about what God has done for us. And it is good when we can answer them correctly, but, of course, sometimes we make mistakes. If you really want to know for sure what God has done for us, you can find it for yourself in the Bible. Or if you can’t read, you could get a Bible and ask your father or mother to read it to you.
What if you don’t have a Bible and don’t have a mother? Then tell God your problem. He will not fail you! He is sure to answer you because He loves you very much, and He wants you to know Him and all He has done for you. You will never be in any place in the whole world where God cannot hear you and bring you an answer from His Word, the Bible. He tells us, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:2424And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. (Isaiah 65:24)). The question is, Do you really want to know? You will never in all your life learn anything more important than to know and believe what God has done for you.
If you have a Bible of your own or can borrow one, there is more of this story of the twelve stones for you to read.