“"Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals." Num 20:8
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
“clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” 2 Corinthians 3:3
”having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone,” Ephesians 2:20
It has been spring weather for a while now, so I am sure lots of ground has been turned or plowed for planting. As I understand it, part of preparing the ground for planting involves removing the rocks from the field. (This seems to mainly be for protecting the other equipment from striking the rocks and becoming damaged.) But rocks are not all bad, because many of our homes likely have stoneware to cook with and the best pizza shops have stone ovens for their even heat distribution and resistance to breaking. Whether I have all this right or not, I know that the Bible has a lot to say about rocks/ stones also.
When the Bible mentions stones, it refers to something hard, secure, and unchanging. We find stones in nature, part of altars and buildings, being written on for recording, and for teachings. Stones were used in construction because they did not wear out like many other materials, and in altars they could withstand the constant burning taking place. The Ten Commandments were recorded on stone so that they would last for many years (until they were destroyed by man.) It was precisely the seeming unchanging of stones that led God to use them as illustrations also.
Jesus was described as the Chief cornerstone because of his unchanging nature and we are encouraged to build our faith and understanding on this solid foundation. God showed his greatness to the Israelites by providing water from a rock. Ezekiel referred to an even greater miracle. Our hearts are described as being made of stone. Think of the hard, sinful life we had before Jesus “replaced our heart of stone.” Without Jesus’ atonement we were destined to remain unchanged in that state.
If you have to pick up rocks, stub your toe on a rock, or even drive on rocks, let them remind you of the Greatness of God!
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