The Lesson of the Rocks

Psalm 18:2 (King David) The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength in whom I will trust.
Psalm 39: 7-8 And now Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions
Romans 9: 32-33 (To Israel) Wherefore? Because you sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the Law. For they stumbled at thy stumbling stone. As it is written: Behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.

First of all, I need to make it clear that my story of The Lesson of the Rocks is in no way meant to equate with what scripture refers to as The Rock, The Stumbling Stone, or any other symbolic or figuratively speaking of God and Christ. The scripture references at the forefront of this story are what we should focus on as true and from divine revelation to the authors of these scriptures. That being said, I can now move on with my story knowing I have not tried to equate my experiences with those of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But, if anyone does receive any saving knowledge from these scriptures then praise be to God.

Being a rock hound is in my blood passed down from my mother and passed down from her mother. We joke here on our mountain that our rocks reproduce during the night much like rabbits do. There seems to be no end to the rocks. But being a rock hound this brings me pleasure and not irritation as to some who would like their land to be free of these rocks. This abundance of rocks lets me build upon my rock wall and use these rocks in conjunction with the tire garden I am building. The lesson I learn each time I have pickaxe in hand, swinging it to break up the soil in the old fashioned way, is that I equate the rocks to my sins and transgressions against God. Yes, I know I am forgiven and I am not spouting blasphemy here. I am just sharing what my thoughts are as I dig, and dig, and dig.

Likened figuratively to a penance for my sins committed in the past and hidden beneath the soil in darkness, these rocks remind me as I throw them on the ever growing pile of rocks (sins) that I can compare those sins as forgiven and they are now ‘as far as the east is from the west’. These sins may have lain ‘covered up’ from my eyes and hidden from my heart in darkness but nothing is ever hidden from Him. I may choose to take up one of those sins again causing Him grief that the lesson has to be learned once more. But there are also times I may remove a rock from that pile in order to use it for good such as to build a strong wall after my lessons have been learned about what I should not do again. Or may be taken up to build upon something good in my life, figuratively speaking, using those past sins/rocks to possibly teach another not to tread down that same wrong pathway.

In no way am I trying to insult the Catholic Church but my first husband was raised as a Catholic and his family wanted to see our son christened even though he had already been blessed in the Baptist Church I was attending. Also, I cannot and am not suggesting that the ‘penance’ I am referring to has anything to do with the Catholic Church method of dealing with sin by confessing it to a priest who then passes along the penance due from the ‘confessional’. The penance referring to these rocks being unearthed again is a symbolic gesture of how I feel God deals with us at times we might not be listening quite too closely to what He would have us do/not do with our lives.

God is my mighty fortress, my refuge, my high tower, Jehovah Jireh, my provider. The scripture listed from Romans at the start of this my lesson of the rocks reads the stumbling stone and rock of offence and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. This is also a lesson I can equate to all the falling down that I do due to tripping over these rocks on my mountain. I do a lot of stumbling and thank Him when that does not result in a fall on this rocky ground. There is also a thorny bush we must contend with here that will grab at your pants leg or boot straps causing you to trip and fall. I compare those thorny bushes to the story in the Bible of the sower of the seeds and the seeds that fall on the thorny ground. But spiritually speaking, if I keep my eyes on Him and not on what is below, He will keep me from my sinful nature/getting tripped up by these ‘rocks’ we learn our ‘lessons’ from here on our mountain. God, as my Rock and my Fortress, I ask for help in keeping my eye on the prize that you offer all who will learn from what You teach in Your Word about believing on You. My prayer would also be that I would not become a stumbling stone to others who may be looking to/at us for guidance.