What do the Stones of Your Life Mean?
Stones have their timeless way of telling the long arc story of a triumphant journey—from the bottom, rough side climb up the unsteady cliff to the safe, secure refuge of ancient, rocky clefs, seemingly carved just for this moment, to hide and shelter you against the perilous night till morning reveals the final, glorious assault to the top. For Keisha Lance Bottoms, her rock of ages is the grave stone of her great-great-grandmother, Betsy Peek, who was born approximately 20 years before emancipation. This week, Bottoms had to touch that stone to pay homage to a slave’s unspoken dream journey of a living hope for her unborn daughter to rise one day, even to the top of Stone Mountain of Georgia, as the newly elected governor—the first.
I don't know what dreams Betsy Peek had for her children or for her grandchildren, or the generations that she would never meet," Bottoms told supporters. "But I know I am standing on shoulders made of steel."
Stones have always had stories to tell. In the New Testament, Jesus used the symbolism of stones to tell the arc of his story—from rejection to ascension—as a chief cornerstone: “…the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone; the lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Matthew 21:42
In the Old Testament, in Joshua 4, Joshua—the successor of Moses—instructed Israel to bring twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan river and erect a memorial at Gilgal, their first resting place in the Promise Land. He told the people what to say when someday their children ask, “What do these stones mean?” The answer is profound. These stones represented how God had delivered Israel from their hard times when they faced the swift rivers water that stood in the way of their blessings. He delivered them. You and I have had a few stones in our lives —experiences of hard times when God’s power delivered us.
What is the purpose of the witness of our “hard times, stone times” of your life? First, the purpose of the “stones” of our lives is to show the world how to relate to God. Second, the purpose of the “stones” of our lives is to remind God’s people how to relate to God. What is your stone story?
KEY VERSES: Joshua 4:19-24: 19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 20 And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. 21 He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' 22 tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' 23 For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.".
The central truth of this stone story in exposition, reflection, and application is this: Let your deliverance be a witness. God is worthy to be respected because of His power.
First, the purpose of the “stones” of your life is to show the world how to relate to God, to acknowledge His power. Joshua told Israel to tell their children that the memorial stones of the Jordan River will be a witness to the world of the power of God.
21 He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' 22 tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful… Joshua 4:21,22,24a
REFLECTION: Recall the one major hardship that God delivered you from. What effect do you think it had on your unbelieving friends and associates who witnessed your victory?
APPLICATION: Let your deliverance be a witness to the world that your God is a strong God, able to deliver.
Second, the purpose of the “stones” of your life is to remind God’s people about how to relate to God: to revere (fear) God.
Joshua told Israel to tell their children that the memorial stones of the Jordan River will be a witness to the children of God that God should be revered—feared--forever.
Joshua 4: 24b ...and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.".
REFLECTION: What does God’s deliverance of your greatest hardship mean to your children? Do they see your respect for God so that they will trust the mighty hand of God in their lives when hardship strikes? This generation needs your “stone story.”
APPLICATION: Let your fear (reverence) of God who delivered you be a witness to your children and grandchildren that your God is a strong God able to deliver them too. They will need him.
Keisha Lance Bottoms needed the mighty hand of God to scale her unscalable summit—the once thought of impossible office for a black woman in a red state-—the governorship of Georgia. She was not alone in her climb. She had a rock of ages, a gravestone of her great-great-grandmother, Betsy Peek, a slave who had her own “stone story” and an unspoken dream journey of a living hope for her unborn daughter to rise one day. Your “stone story” maybe the stuff of a young person’s ascendance to a dream high, but not unclimbable.
Your stone can be someone’s foothold.
Johnnie Roy Houston's mother was his rock of ages. Hear their story at: Amazon A Forgiving Fire AUDIOBOOK SHARE LINK https://a.co/d/034ESwQa
A Forgiving Fire Audiobook Sample-3m-YT https://youtu.be/LUDDVfQyY-Q?si=Yd5ghNJ_7uJkyJiM
Comments