Life Coaching: How Our Covenant With God Becomes Our Testimony

Our pastor has been teaching out of the book of Joshua. As a result, I have been thinking out of the book of Joshua. I tend to think about what’s right in front of me because my mind just won’t hold a thought any longer than that. I’m not saying I have a bad memory because that would mean I’m admitting to getting older, which I’m not prepared to do just yet…

In the fourth chapter of Joshua, something interesting happens…I went back and read that chapter today to refresh my memory, and I noticed something I’d never noticed before. I’m gonna recap a little bit here because it’s important to know a little backstory. The Lord had told the children of Israel to cross the Jordan river. God parted the Jordan River just like He’d parted the Red Sea for Moses. But this time, God gave them specific instructions: “Take one man from every tribe (there were 12 tribes), and have each of them carry 12 stones and place them in the middle of the dried up Jordan River to use as a memorial. (I paraphrased that just a bit) Then, Joshua instructed the 12 men to cross over the Jordan River carrying those stones, and the Ark of the Covenant would follow behind them. This is interesting in itself, but what struck me was this: In verse 7, the Ark was referred to as “The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.” But in verse 15, the Ark is referred to as “The Ark of the Testimony.” It was after placing those memorial stones and crossing the Jordan River that the Ark of the Covenant became the Ark of the Testimony. I think this is important in a couple of ways: 1) The Ark was a constant reminder of the covenant between God and His people, the children of Israel, and 2) The Ark was tangible proof of the testimony of the faithfulness of God to bring His people through the trials of crossing the Jordan River. The covenant became part of the testimony.

If we fast forward to today, what does this mean to us? It means there are times in our lives when God moves on our behalf. We may not always see it, but we know it, and we remember it. There are other times, when we see it clearly and immediately. All those times are our memorial stones, markers in our lives when we can look back and say, “I know that was God. I know He was with me. I know that was an answered prayer.” It becomes part of our testimony. It’s something we can grab hold of when our days are dark and bleak. It is a time when God reminds us of His covenant with His people. It reminds us of the grafting that took place when we accepted Him as our Father, and accepted His Son, Jesus, as our Savior and Lord. The covenant and our testimony are so intertwined, it would be impossible to separate the two.

We were created in the image of the Omnipotent God. We were created for a purpose. And part of that purpose is to tell others about Him. There are things we can keep silent about, but talking about how God has transformed our lives isn’t one of them. True transformation just kind spills out and sloshes all over everybody. There’s no stopping it. It just happens. And it happens because we have a desire to share with others the amazing God we serve.

Things aren’t always sunshine and unicorns. I will be the first one to admit that. But even in the days of darkness and plain old ponies, we can trust God to be who He says He is. He is our Covenant and He is our Testimony. He loves us, and He moves on our behalf constantly. We sometimes don’t see it, and we oftentimes don’t feel it. But life consists of more than seeing and feeling. It consists of strength, integrity and honor. It consists of peace, mercy and joy. It is on such solid things as these that our lives are made whole.

May God remind you of His covenant and your testimony today. God bless!