Month: November 2024

Decades ago, watching a log cabin being built on a TV show, Home Time, the lady, Joanne Liebler was gathering stones for the fireplace hearth when she said something like, “How ironic that decades ago, these stones were discarded off the property, and now we’re collecting them for a fireplace.”  The stones that had once been cast away, were now being gathered.

Look at it as acquiring new clothing; just a bit heavier!  And, since it’s stones, now is the time to gather them. As I previously wrote, there are stones of remembrance; markers of new events in our lives, as in new beginnings. They’re like a height chart for kids to see if they’ve grown. It’s time to gather stones of good memories.  It’s time to forge ahead.  God’s always at work.  He’s not stagnant.  He’s always on the move.

In 1 Samuel 7:12, it is recorded that on one occasion as Samuel was offering a burnt offering to God, the Philistines sought to attack Israel, but the LORD intervened. Samuel then gathered a stone and “set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Up to here, the LORD has helped us.”

God is here to help you all the days of your life as long as you give Him your life and your heart.  In fact, one stone you don’t want to gather, is a heart of stone.  We’ve all had one at some point.  “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

God is near as you gather stones together.

God Bless,

Sam

Recommended Song: No Stone to Throw-Sierra

Sometimes in life, we need to rid ourselves of unwanted/unneeded things.  We need to cast away stones from our lives or from our properties.  It’s good to dispel things such as foolishness and gossip; things that bind us and restrict our growth.  We need to purge ourselves. If we’re moving or building, there’s a time to cast away unnecessary junk, and only use the essentials.

Jesus once told the religious leaders that the stone the builders cast away (rejected), was now become the corner stone (Mark 12: 10,11).  In other words, the way I once heard it, sometimes a corner stone for a building foundation is found but pushed aside because it doesn’t seem like it’ll work; yet, in the end, its’ the one that works after all.  The people had rejected Jesus because He didn’t fit their vibe; He didn’t follow the patterns they followed and He didn’t walk in their footsteps.  He stirred the crowds with new teachings.  But they weren’t new at all.  He was bringing His Word to life.  He wasn’t wrong at all because, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us…” (John 1:1,2,3,14a).

Meaning, Jesus is the actual Word of God materialized in the flesh!  If there was a written law and that law became flesh, then everything that person would say, would actually be the law itself. Although, He was the stone the people cast away, He was the True Foundation to everything in their lives; their beliefs as God’s Chosen Deliverer and the Messiah whom they awaited; and still is!  He’s always been the stone they needed.

As today’s idiom goes, “Throw out the baby with the bathwater.”  The hope of their salvation was cast out due to the hardness of their hearts.  Scripture was alive and being fulfilled before their very eyes, yet they failed to see it, thus casting Him too.

There are stones of remembrance, sometimes, evil, that we can do without.  Those stones of bad memories may be like giants in your life choking you of joy, stability, etc. needing to be cast away. Today, we can cast all our cares and worries before Him. Cast them out right now, in Jesus’ name!

Until next time when we gather…

Sam

Recommended Song: Cast Down Your Cares-John Michael Talbot