I was thinking today about my life before salvation, previous to calling
upon the Lord Jesus Christ to come into my heart and save me. I was struggling
in so many ways, blind to the truth, without hope, feeling alone and insecure.
There was so much sin in my life in so many different areas… Some things
I knew were wrong and some I had not yet learned were wrong. There was
so much baggage weighing me down that I had been carrying around for a
very long time. Year upon year I placed another layer of sin in my life
causing my whole existence to be nothing more than waste. Praise the Lord
for His wonderful gift of salvation that changed both the destination
and direction of my life! The Lord saved me, cleaned me up, and put me
on a sure foundation. He gave me eyes to see that which I was unable to
see before He saved me - I saw His grace and forgiveness, His love, mercy
and comfort. I saw hope and help in His Word and a new purpose for living.
Along those same lines, I’d like us to study a portion of scripture today
that paints a picture of the city of Jerusalem before and after God's
salvation, for it is also a picture of your life and my life before and
after Christ. It really expresses what God has done for His children,
and it stirred within me a fresh gratefulness for the new foundation that
the Lord has given me now. Turn with me to Isaiah 54 and let's read verses
11 and 12 together…
O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will
lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and
all thy borders of pleasant stones.
The Bible says in those verses above that before salvation, you and I
were afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted. How many of you
would say that is a pretty fair description of a lost soul? I say amen
to that! That was me… And yet, the Lord looked down from heaven and took
notice of me laying in the dirt! He reached down, picked me up, saved
me and began dusting me off. When He did, He began to lay the foundation
of my life with fair colors - beautiful colors! My heavenly Father took
away the dirt and ugliness of my sin and replaced it with the beauty of
His holiness, which shines as the beauty of precious jems and jewels.
What a shame if I cloud that beauty over again with the impurity of my
sinful choices...
Psalm 29:2 (KJV)
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the
beauty of holiness.
The Bible says that God lays our foundation with sapphires. One layer
rests upon the other.... Yes, He layers the beauty of His holiness upon
a rock solid foundation. Did you know that most gemstones are hard minerals?
You can try, but they are so hard that they are not easily broken or destroyed;
they stand up under many a test when tried. Such is the foundation we
have in Christ, such is the security and stability of the saint! Is Jesus
as precious to you as a sapphire or a ruby or a diamond might be if you
received one as a gift?
Isaiah 28:6 (KJV)
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation
a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation….
As with sapphires, the beauty of all gems is increased by cutting and
polishing. My son Luke received a rock tumbler for Christmas one year
and for the first 24 hours of ownership his favorite rocks were spinning
away. Through water and abrasives, this rotating barrel grinds in days
what it takes nature hundreds of years to do in a stream, river or ocean.
It's quite noisy but this process does not harm the stones in any way.
The continual tumbling smooths rough points and edges, the pit holes and
gashes in each stone. So too, as the Lord continually cuts away at our
lives and polishes out the rough stony waste places, the gashes and pit
holes, He makes our beauty shine forth more and more. By the water of
His Word mixed with certain abrasive circumstances designed to scrape
away at the surface of our hearts, the Lord causes us to change and become
evermore Christ-like, more priceless in character. Maybe you don't recognize
the value or beauty that is being developed within you daily, but God
does!
In youth, we were all used to handling stones or kicking at them with
our feet, amen? Who hasn't picked up a stone and flung it through the
air once or twice. At the time, it probably never occurred to us that
something so common as a rock or a stone might have any value to it. Maybe
today you feel common and ordinary, but as a child of God you are unique
and precious in His sight! Our heavenly Father keeps a rock collection
made up of people just like you and me. God sees value even in a lost
soul, and through the blood of Christ, He brings the truth to the world
- the realization that rocks can change!! Have you ever tried to change
the shape of a rock with your own hands? It's impossible! Only the hand
of the Lord can change us, but ladies, change IS possible!!
Mark 10:27 (KJV)
And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not
with God: for with God all things are possible.
As in the case of the rock tumbler, a course grit is used on the first
cycle, then a progressively finer grit. It may seem at present that the
Lord's tumblings in your life are too abrasive, but it won't always be
so. The smoother you become, the less abrasive He'll have to be. Yield
to the process of perfection, for the end results are worth it! According
to the directions in Luke's rock tumbler, once the tumbling begins, it
must continue till the cycle is finished. If the contents of the barrel
are left standing for an extended period of time, the mixture will harden
and become one solid cement-like cake. It's that way in our lives too,
amen? We need continual tumbling to keep our hearts from hardening again
and the Lord knows it better than we do! Don't lose hope, don't give up
- just patiently wait on God to bring about your beauty...
Eccles. 3:11 (KJV)
He hath made every thing beautiful in his time....
Yes, through the various elements of nature such as wind, water, heat
and pressure, over time this change is brought about in rocks. You know
what's interesting about rocks though? Each one is different. Some are
larger or smaller. Some types are softer or harder. All this affects the
tumbling process. The rocks that remain roughest after the first cycle
must be taken out of the barrel, removed from the smoother ones so that
they can continue to become smoother yet in the second cycle... Would
you be one of those rocks that hindered the refining of another?? For
good tumbling, Luke was instructed not to mix different types of material
together in his barrel. For example, agates and amethysts when tumbled
and polished together will not give the best results because the agates
will chip the amethysts and neither will take a good polish. The bags
of stones provided are wisely selected so that each individual bag can
be tumbled and polished in one batch. Ladies, God knows what He is doing
in all our lives, amen? Trust His tumblings! He knows precisely what people
to put together in particular circumstances or trials of life because
it is best for those selected, in order that each might take a good polish...
Psalm 18:30a (KJV)
As for God, his way is perfect...
Yes, different rocks go through different changes, but if they change
enough, they finally end up looking very much alike!! That should be our
goal, ladies! Each one of us will experience some tumblings in life as
we go through various forms of pressure at different times and for various
lengths of time. However, the end result should be the same - we should
all come out to be more like the image and likeness of Jesus Christ! Our
lives as Christians should be bordered or outlined with pleasant stones.
This is the reason for the pressure God's designing hand places upon us
individually as He carves and polishes out the image of His precious Son
in us. He brings out that which would otherwise never be seen by the world!
Job 28:9-11 (KJV)
He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains
by the roots. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth
every precious thing. He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the
thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
In closing, how do you let your circumstances shape your perception of
life? How do you let circumstances affect your relationship with God and
your relationship with others? Are you letting them spoil your relationships,
or are you letting the beauty of the Lord shine forth in spite of the
abrasion? What significant events in your life, what tumblings have helped
to shape your view of life and your view of God? Let that which is most
precious in God's account, be so in ours, amen? Take your tumbling...and
trust Him!
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 1999 Pamela A. Iannello
Revised 2004
