Why “A Standing Stone”?
In ancient times, the use of stones as memorials was common. Sometimes a single stone, at other times a pile of stones, was raised. When God performed a mighty work for the Iraelites, the standing stones would mark a remembrance of the event for all generations to come. An example would be when the Iraelites crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. God parted the Jordan so they could pass through on dry land.
“So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean?” tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. The stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.’”
Joshua 4:4-7
I was listening to a lesson about this, and the teacher spoke of how we are like standing stones. God has done a mighty work in us! When we believe in Jesus Christ and confess our sins, and ask Him to be our Savior, then we become children of God and His Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us!
As I was listening to this lesson on standing stones, I thought of how we each can be a living stone, a memorial of the wonderful things God has done in our lives!
I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was in Middle School, however I didn’t really grow in my walk with the Lord, so by the time I was in about 9th grade, I had begun to wander from walking with the Lord pretty much at all. From there it was all downhill. It took several years of huge life mistakes and hurting others and myself before I realized Who was needed in my life. After coming back to the Lord, with a cold, hard heart, He tenderly brought me back to Himself and began healing the hurts, changing my heart and mind, and filling me with a love I never before dreamed could be! And daily I need to be with Him and He in me or I feel the pull of the “old self”.
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.”
John 15:5