The Stones Shall Cry Out

I’ve been accused of being a rock. I didn’t like the insult to my intelligence. It was supposed to spur me on to great intellectual heights. I don’t know that it has or ever will do that.

But when the Bible speaks of people as rocks, it isn’t speaking of intellectual stones, but of spiritual. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Jer. 9:23, 24.

God doesn’t deal with men as intellectuals. Although He has intelligence in abundance and meets with our intelligence, He approaches us with faith and love. He desires to reason together with us, not in an intellectual way, but to let us see that His ways are best and that having our way only spells ruin for us in every respect.

Rather than intellectuals, He wants children. The things that make a child, faith and love, will be His tools in remaking us and mending our broken lives. Being children will make us the happiest and most teachable, for Him to train us to be obedient to His laws and to reap the prosperity that always results from obedience. Then once our spirit is mollified and healed, automatically our intelligence awakens and is restored. Like the devil-possessed man of Gergesa, after Jesus healed him from control by Satan, the disciples returned to find the man “in his right mind.” Mk 5:15. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, or love, and of a sound mind.” 2Tim. 1:7.

And so it has gone from the very beginning. God has been in the business of healing fallen souls who looked to Him for help out of their desperate situations. “They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saveth them out of their distresses. He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Ps. 107:19, 20. Thus, up pops a man or woman or child from out of obscurity, and begins to work for God. Repentance paving the way, out of a life of rebellion they begin the work of righteousness, a great work for the uplifting of humanity and the redemption of many souls.

So we see people, inside the church and out of it, awakening to new life. A Samson here, in the camp of Dan, beginning to move at the promptings of the Spirit of God (Ju. 13:25); a half-breed son of a prostitute, Jephthah, over there, rescuing God’s people, self-righteous people who have snubbed Jephthah until, to their surprise, they see that God can work with him better than them(Ju. 11:1). A non-Israelite Job, yonder, becomes a more righteous and greater man than the Israelites, and David, the unlikely runt of the family, becomes a mighty king. Peter, plagued with foot-in-mouth disease, awakens to seriousness, settled in self-possession; and murderous Saul, begins to preach the faith he had once destroyed. Like a master of the steeldrums gets a sound when he touches this or that place on the surface of his drum, so the Holy Spirit touches this person or that and gets a response at the right time, and there is a heavenly calypso heard as the least expected hearts awaken to sing the praises of their Lord.

“The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His.” 2Tim. 2:19. Long before His champions of faith pop up to proclaim His name and character, while faith is yet only a germinated egg, Christ sees it all. We don’t see the nascent faith or the desire for righteousness growing in the misbehaving ones destined to be heroes for God, but He declares them His. Like a lion, He roars over these lambs as His own, warning off anyone who offends them, and threatening anyone who cooperates with Satan to destroy the nurturing and development He is doing in His little ones.

“God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” Matt. 3:9;Lk. 19:40. “For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Lk. 20:38. They may not look like much, but they are His, and He will transform them into beautiful gems.

Frogs invariably begin to peep and croak every evening, raising a grand chorus to their Creator. Why do they? They don’t know; they just do it. It’s in their nature; “God hath put it in their hearts to fulfill His will.” (Rev. 17:17). Even so, God creates in us a clean heart through the difficulties of life. He makes us pure while living among impurity, by introducing a drop of His grace. It is always a small beginning; we won’t even recognize His work in our own heart. Yet if we keep pressing into His presence for a better and better acquaintance with Him and a knowledge of His grace toward sinners, He will give us our desire, a life in subjection to His righteousness, the life of faith and love.

And as the dusk of this enlightened age continues to move into the darkness and troublous times of approaching religious intolerance (Is. 60:1, 2; 2Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. 13:11, 12), one by one the stones will start making noises, the frogs will begin to sing, the stars will come out, until the midnight of the earth will be full of the glory of the Lord. Then He will come to receive His stones. “And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels.” Mal. 3:17.