No Stone Unturned

May 18

To find what you seek in the Road of Life, the best proverb of all is that which says: "Leave no stone unturned." Edward Bulwer Lytton

Have you ever noticed how many stones there are? Just step outside the front door and you will encounter numerous of them! Wander a while through the Garden of Life and you will discover more of them than you can count! Lytton has set an enormous task before us. So while we may not have the capacity or the inclination to overturn every stone along our path, it does behoove us to search under a few of them.

One that might be worthy of our attention is the stone of doubt. Life can hurl some rather hefty rocks of unbelief our way. Some of them may strike us with such force that they virtually knock the faith right out of us. We may be stricken from the assault, but when this happens we must arise, shake ourselves free of the result of the blow and remind ourselves that our faith is stronger than to be undone by stones of doubt as the prophet admonishes in Micah 7:8.

Anger is another of the stones that can render us temporarily senseless. We are struck and the blow elicits a cauldron of rage within us! How dare anyone hurl such a potentially damaging missile our way! We are godly people and above reproach! Our sins are under the blood of Christ and no man has the right to cast a stone of accusation at us! Although this is true, the accusations will inevitably come, and when they do, they will provoke us to anger. When they succeed in hurting us with this stone, its twin will follow.

Anger will be followed by the stone of unforgiveness. It is much easier to hold a grudge against those who endeavor to do us harm than to let go of the animus their attack has generated within us. In fact, it feels good for a season to indulge unforgiveness. We know we are justified in our attitude because when the Lord has washed us clean of our failures, no man has the right to lash out at us regarding them. But they will, and when they do, our natural response is to vilify them and respond in kind. How else can we justify ourselves?

But that stone of self-justification must be overturned within us, for it is the one that prevents us from fully receiving the justification of Jesus! If we must make ourselves right before our accusers, then we are nullifying the justification for which Jesus paid so high a price in our behalf! If we truly believe His life, death

and resurrection in our behalf is effectual, then we will not need to justify ourselves! We will believe in our minds and accept in our hearts that HE HAS PAID THE PRICE AND HIS BLOOD ALONE COVERS AND JUSTIFIES ALL OUR SIN!

When we truly appropriate the totality of the glorious work the Lord has done in our behalf, we will appropriate the stone of peace of that we so easily overlook as we walk along the path of life. When we do, we will see what we have forfeited by its neglect. In fact, we will discover it to be unlike the other stones, for they are designed as missiles to be hurled as weapons while the stone of peace is to be cut and polished like a gem. When we overturn it, we discover it becomes a jewel in our crown!

How can we cause these stones in life to become stepping stones to higher and ever higher planes of faith in Jesus rather than stumbling blocks that cause our downfall? The one key answer to that perplexing question is that we do so by keeping our hand in His and by walking with Him. When we do, HE will deflect the hurtful rocks that are hurled our way and HE will allow us to find the peace and its incumbent joy for which we seek.

We will discover afresh that Jesus who bore the wrath of God in our behalf is faithful and worthy of all our confidence. The Stone the builders rejected is the only One worthy of being the Cornerstone of our lives for time and eternity (Psalm 118:22, Acts 4:11).