U
&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"Precious Stones"

[ Back to Article Titles Page ]  [ Back to Home Page ]

"And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.  The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;  The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst."  Revelation 21:19-20.  These words are a part of the beautiful description found in God's Word of the home that awaits me when this life is over.  Of course, there is more description given of this wonderful home I so look forward to, but I have chosen this part and the title of this little article as it has to do with precious stones.  Some of the names of these stones, I cannot even pronounce, but they all sound so beautiful and the Lord even calls them precious, so they surely are the very best.  God never chooses anything but the very best and He owns it all.

As you have probably noticed in my letter head, this is the hundredth article the Lord has given me.  When I wrote the first article and even when I came up with the numbering system for the articles to keep track of them, I never imagined the Lord would give me a hundred of them.  Each one of these articles has been a real blessing to my own heart and I hope to those who have read them and though I do have my favorites, it is my prayer that each one of them has been pleasing to God Who intrusted me to write them.  In that this is the one hundredth article and a sort of milestone, I have prayed that He will grant me special help in writing it and that it will serve as a precious stone to Him as well.

Lately, the Lord has used stones in my own life quite a bit and while He has put these thoughts upon my heart, I hope to share this blessing with as many others who will read it.  A few weeks ago, my wife and children and I were at my wife's parents house and as we were about to leave, we noticed a bag of rocks on the steps to their house.  My wife picked up the bag and asked, "Who's rocks are these?"  Immediately, I said, "They're the Lords.", and she jokingly said, "You're a fanatic."  Well friends, whether jokingly or not, when it comes to the Lord, that was one of the greatest compliments she could have given me.  On Friday the 13th of November in 1992, God so graciously saved me and made me one of His own.  I was not worthy then and except for the shed blood of Jesus, I am not worthy now.  But since that time, He has never let me forget where I came from and where I was headed when He saved me.  He has placed within me a desire to serve Him and to tell others about Jesus.

Just last week, I had the opportunity to watch a video produced by Dr. James Dobson on the Holy Land.  In this video, they showed some of and told of the standing stones over there.  Now, these stones they call standing stones were stones the children of Israel placed at the points and places where the Lord had done something great in their lives.  One such example, we find in Joshua where the Lord parted the Jordan River for the children of Israel to pass over into the Promised Land, "And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:  That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?  Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever."  Joshua 4:5-7.  When the Lord does His great miracles in the lives of His children, He expects and deserves all glory and honor and praise and these stones stood as a memorial that God did something great here.  Listen to what the Word of God says about those of us who He has so graciously redeemed.  "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.  To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."  1 Peter 2:3-5.  God has done something very great in the lives of those He has chosen and we are to be living stones that when the world sees those stones they will say, "God did something here and I wonder what it was."  Then we are to tell of His wonderful grace that parted the sea of sin and led us over out of bondage and that will part the darkness of death and lead us over to the Promised Land.

And then there is another stone.  The One Who made this article possible.  "Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.  Unto you therefore which believeth He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the Word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed."  1 Peter 2:6-8.  Friend, I am a sinner, worthy of hell and you too are a sinner.  Now, we are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners.  I have done some pretty bad things in my life and I have even done some pretty good things.  Neither of these would condemn me to hell nor qualify me to go to heaven.  Before the Lord so graciously saved me, what was condemning me to hell was rejecting Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He so freely made upon that cross for my sins.  The moment He saved me and ever since, the only thing that has qualified me to go to that beautiful new home I mentioned in the beginning of this little article is the precious blood that Jesus shed for me.  You know, He shed that blood for you too and if you have not fully trusted Him as your Lord and Saviour, I beg you to do so now.

I heard a little joke on the radio awhile back which asked, "If you knew you only had thirty seconds to live, what would you do?"  The answer to the joke was, "Hurry to the living room."  Now I realize that this was quite a corny joke, but it set me to thinking.  What would I do?  How would I like to spend my last thirty seconds on this earth.  Well, none of us really knows when we will be called to leave this world, but with God as my witness, I would have no greater joy than to spend my last thirty seconds telling some lost soul about Jesus.  He may indeed call me home before I finish this little article and I can think of no better way to meet Him.  Just in case He does though, I have this little rock on my desk which my dear wife has been dying for me to tell her what it's for.  I didn't want to tell her before she had the chance to read this little article.   Let me share with you a most blessed passage of Scripture, "And when He was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.  And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto Him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.  And He answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."  Luke 19:37-40.  Friends, I do so want to be a fanatic for my Lord and a standing stone to His great grace and mercy and should He call me home before I finish this or any other article He gives me, I am depending upon this rock to cry out, rejoicing and praising Him for all the mighty works I have seen.  Now, this rock is a lot like me.  It's not a very big rock, but it's God's rock.  It's not a very pretty rock, but it's God's rock.  It's not a perfectly clean rock, but it's God's rock.