The Lord invited me today to look back. His intentions weren’t like the enemy’s, to drag up my heathenistic past. I’ve already been there too many times. It was an invitation to further explore my spiritual roots so that the backbone of my sometimes-wobbly faith might be firmed up.
He started off by saying, Hearken to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord . . . What better way to open a conversation than to let me know He sees my weak, yet determined reaching for more of Him? I gladly lent Him my ear. Look to the rock from which we were hewn . . . for I called him when he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.[i]
What a shock it must’ve been when God broke that news to Abraham.[ii] Abraham, with his one-hundred-year-old, ancient-as-the-hills body, was as good as dead. His ninety-years young wife Sarah was barren.[iii] Is it any wonder that his first reaction was to fall on his face and laugh? Praise God, there’s hope for me!
Yet, despite Abraham having no possible means of reproducing left in him, he believed God. This extraordinary man withstood some mighty extreme testing. He staggered not in his faith. Against all hope, he believed in hope. Of course, he didn’t pull this off on his own. God—The Rock of Ages, The Everlasting Rock of his (and our) salvation—braced his every step, until lo and behold, Abraham indeed became not only the father of natural descendants, but of multitudes of future ones of faith.[iv]
I felt my faith muscle flex. This Abraham was no ordinary rock you and I have been hewn from. His were top notch spiritual roots!
Then there's Jesus, The Living Stone the builders rejected. He has become the Chief Cornerstone of our faith—rock solid, dependable, incorruptible. In ancient construction, “No stone was more important than the cornerstone because the integrity of the whole structure depended on the cornerstone containing exactly the right lines.[v] On Him our confidence can safely rest.
Upon this Chief Cornerstone, God is building His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.[vi] Because Christ overcame, we too can overcome. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.[vii]
Again, I felt my faith strengthened.
As progenies of the Living Stone, we living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Our lives are building upon the foundation of faith already laid down by the apostles and prophets before us.[viii] In fact, “All history is the process of building up a “spiritual palace” out of a regenerate humanity, in order that, in the end, the Father Himself may occupy it.”[ix]
This is no shifting sand we’re built upon. I’d have to say there’s real, rock-solid substance to our spiritual roots. We are children of the Rock of Ages. We are descendants hewn from that faith rock, Abraham. We are progenies of the Living Stone, Jesus. We are living stones that come from a long line of diehard living stones like the Apostle Peter (Cephas, the rock).[x]
One could say we are “chips off the old Block”, (and I mean that in the most respectful way!). We as dear children are to be imitators of our Father God, resembling Him in every way. We’re to be holy (set apart) as He is holy. We are to love as Christ loves us, forgive as He forgives us, be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful.[xi]
So, let's keep the faith and continue pressing forward.
[i] Isaiah 51:1–2 [ii] Genesis 15: 5; 17:1–17 [iii] Romans 4:16–20; Genesis 21:5–7 [iv] Isaiah 26:4 AMP [v] Psalm 89:26; 1 Peter 2:4, 6; The Stone that the Builders Rejected Became the Cornerstone? by Ray Pritchard - Christianity.com [vi] Matthew 16:18 [vii] 1 John 5:4 [viii] 1 Peter 2: 4–7; Ephesians 2:20–21; Ephesians 4:11; Matthew 16: 18 [ix] Ephesians 2:20 - Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers [x] John 1:42 [xi] Ephesians 5:1–2; 1 Peter 1:16; John 15:12; Colossians 3:13; Luke 6:36