Laying Down Stones: Pointing to Jesus

About five years ago my family went to Utah for our Spring Break. It was breathtakingly fantastic! My husband's Aunt Judy lived there and she knew of the most amazing places to take us. We saw hieroglyphs, Ancient Anasazi Indian ruins, and some of the most spectacular red rock formations.  She was a wonderful tour guide and my family enjoyed our trip tremendously. 

If you have been to these places, then you know that a person must hike to get to any of them. I'm from South Texas and had never "officially" hiked. Sure I've trekked the flat land of the Gulf Coast, but we were going up and down huge rocks that had no official path, nothing to hold on to, and a very steep drop off. 

There is something you may need to know about me at this point... I am not very graceful or balanced and I am terrified of heights! Did I mention that we hiked UP? Once we went up, we hiked back DOWN? Did you know that there are edges that a person can fall off of? While the view was breathtaking, I had no confidence that I wouldn't plunge to my death with one false step! 

Aunt Judy was an experienced hiker though, and pointed out these odd stacks of stones. I had noticed them before but had no idea what their purpose was...if any.

She told me that the stacked rocks where cairns and they were along a trail within sight of each other to let you know you're on the right track. Follow the cairns and you will be okay. If you veer away from them, that is when you can be in trouble.

Then to make me connect with the cairn, we each added a stone to the pile.

As I look back on that time, I am reminded that in the Old Testament God told people to stack stones.

"When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,“Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.’”, (Joshua 4: 1-3, NLT)

God had just performed the humanly impossible act of drying up a full and actively flowing river so the multitude of Israelites could cross over to the promised land on dry soil. He tells them to stack the stones in honor of the miracles He has done for them. 

These stacked stones would serve as a reminder of God's ability and willingness to deliver His people from impossible circumstances.

In this 31 day series of Laying Down Our Stones, we are referring to stones as wounds, hurts, offenses, and disappointments that we are hanging on to.

If you are carrying stones from past experiences, or from present circumstances and it seems impossible to be free from the burden of them...I have good news! God is in the business of doing the impossible!

He wants you to stack your stones at His feet and release them to Him. Allow Him to use those stones that once represented pain and hopelessness to be a beacon reminding you of how powerful He is and how willing He is to perform the impossible in your life. 

"He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.", (Psalm 147:3, NLT)

Just like a person with a broken arm must submit to the physician for his arm to be healed correctly, we must submit our broken hearts to God, the healer of broken hearts. How do we submit to Him? By laying down the stones that slow us down, and by trusting God with our painful parts.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.", (Hebrews 12:1-2, NLT)

God, being a loving Father, always thinks of the big picture. In the Joshua 4 scripture above, He commanded that they stack the stones as a reminder of the miracles they had personally witnessed and experienced.

As you see God bring healing to the areas you release to Him, those markers (cairns) will become your reminder of God's miracle workings in your life... but it doesn't stop there! Your steps of faith, obedience, and trust will affect future generations.

"Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’  Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea[c] when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever.” (Joshua 4:21-24, NLT)

There are always people watching to see how we will live out our faith. As a parent, our children are our most diligent observers. When we lay down our stones of pain and offense, we are showing our children how to trust Jesus with their own stones.

Believing with you today that we each have the courage to lay more stones at His feet.

Dear Lord, Help me remember the miracles you have worked in my life in the past. Open my heart to use those as encouragement to trust you with more. I trust you with my wounds today and ask you to reveal yourself to me as healer of my broken heart. As I learn to lay my stones down, let my faith and trust in you be a marker showing my children the way to you. In Jesus name I pray~ Amen