Good Morning Everyone,
Last night I saw the movie Redeeming Love. It so underscored our relentless unwillingness to embrace God's love, and His relentless fever to love. But that’s not all. It underscored choice, and it underscored His sometimes necessary silence to propel us towards Him. It also demonstrated, once again, He never has a plan B. Our lives sit square in His plan A.
Then I read Isaiah 54 which describes how the Lord called us from a forsaken and a rejected place and, even times, hid His face from us. But His loving kindness never departed. HOWEVER, today the piece that touched me was this in vs. 11: "Oh afflicted one and storm tossed and not comforted, I will set your stones in antimony." I paused and wondered what the heck is antimony? Here is what I got from my searching:
Our lives are precious to Him, like precious stones. However, stones just lying around without a setting will not display brilliance, and stones in a cheap setting will be considered cheap. Additionally stones without a setting can be ‘overlooked’ and just get mixed in with the cheap stuff. I realized the "setting" makes all the difference. What holds the stone in place makes all the difference. When He says, "I will lay your stones in antimony," I perceived Him saying, "Cari, what I designed before time was purposeful and I hold you in the palm of my hand as Redeemer." His hand is the setting; holding my life that is precious to Him. His desire is that the "stone" of my life would be put on display in the glory of His encasement. He, as the setting, breaths in the light and life, and He polishes and shaves so that the little stone of our lives just shine brighter.
The setting is not just a stagnant setting; it is active and alive; molding the stone, but the stone never leaves the setting. It reminded me again of stillness. We are not just random stones, like piles of stones in the dirt. He picked us out of the mire, and individually, "set us" in His hand, never to be rejected or replaced. This made me cry today.
Much Love,
Cari
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