Kimberlite Rock
O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colourful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires. Isaiah 54:11
I know nothing about mining for coal, gold, gems or diamonds. I do know though that a diamond doesn't look like the diamonds I know when it comes out of the earth. It's found in Kimberlite, a special type of rock, but I still wouldn't know it if I tripped over it. (What a shame!) I also know that diamonds are formed deep in the earth's crust and that they are formed under great pressure. Diamonds go through a process, quite a complicated process by master craftsmen, to become what we see in beautiful jewellery.
Gemstones come from rocks too. Much more common rocks but you still have to know what you are looking at to pick them. Then they go through a refining process which involves being put in a barrel with a whole lot of other (probably different) rocks and being whizzed around, crashing and bashing into each other until they emerge smooth and shiny and quite beautiful from the 'painful' process.
Gemstones come from rocks too. Much more common rocks but you still have to know what you are looking at to pick them. Then they go through a refining process which involves being put in a barrel with a whole lot of other (probably different) rocks and being whizzed around, crashing and bashing into each other until they emerge smooth and shiny and quite beautiful from the 'painful' process.
I love this verse from Isaiah that speaks to the "afflicted one, storm tossed and not comforted". Perhaps that's your experience today. The path has become rough, the way rather rocky and the darkness is rolling in making it difficult to see the road right in front of you, let alone the way further ahead. Perhaps you feel crashed and bashed about like the gemstones. How you handle this kind of pressure can so easily determine whether these trying times in your life produce gems, or just remain as rocks.
God, our Master Craftsman, is always looking for ways to bring us more and more into the likeness of Jesus. It happens through the difficulties of life and the way we respond to them. It's a 'learning and growing' process. We can yield to the process by committing our way to him and trusting him to bring good out of our difficulties (Psalm 37:5-8). If we will cooperate in the process by trusting in God's promises and his faithfulness to always be working for our good, we will find real peace in the process and He will have the joy of polishing us for His glory.
Prayer: Faithful Father, when life gets tough and the path rocky, would you help me to see that this is a place where you can work out your good purposes in my life. Let me shine for your glory and grow in your grace. Amen
