For some reason, I really like verse 11. I think it has to do with my love of history and engineering. In the past, when people built buildings or monuments, they would often get the stone they needed from quarries. At these quarries, workers would chisel out pieces of the rock to be used as building blocks. A builder would then go through and assess the blocks. If the blocks were of the right quality, size, and shape, they would give their stamp of approval and the blocks would be further finished before being used in the building. If the stone had any defects or was not the right shape or size, it would be rejected and either dumped to the side or used for a lesser role. Now to use this rejected stone as the corner stone would be an engineering disaster. The cornerstone is the very first stone the builders put down. It defines the origin of the building as well as the two planes of the walls. If the block was cut incorrectly or did not have a perfectly 90 degrees angle, the building would be a nightmare. It is only appropriate that on this perfect stone of Jesus which the rest of the world reject, would the Lord begin to build His church.
The threats Peter and John received reminded me of last night's Bible study on joy. I really like their response to the oppression. When the Sanhedron told them that they would release them only if they would stop preaching, it had the complete opposite effect. Rather than causing them to cease spreading the word, Peter and John went back to their companions and rejoiced! A few years ago, I was spreading invitation cards on campus for a gospel meeting that my church was hosting. We had mounted some posters with a bunch of invitation cards for people to take on one of the bulletin boards and a few of us were passing out cards outside. While I was out there, I saw a person take all the invitation cards on the bulletin board and throw them in the trash. Now normally, I'm a very apprehensive person. Whenever someone disagrees with me, I usually concede and go with their way. But for some reason, when I saw that happen, I became even more bold in my faith and witnessed with even more fervency. It wasn't anger or wraith or vengeance that drove me, it was plain unadulterated passion for the Lord. I don't remember if I was successful at all at getting people to come, but I do know that when I worked for the Lord that day, He worked in me. For some reason, whenever I do something that attracts attacks from the Enemy, my faith in the Lord increases. It's true what Chuck said last night, there is a lot of joy to be taken out of tribulations. I only hope that my faith and joy in Him will always grow and never decrease.
my senior year in high school, there were a few of us that met together before class started to pray. and i put up some flyers about the prayer meeting around school. I was walking to class one day when I saw this girl walking in front of me (who i happened to know), tear down one of the flyers in disgust. And it's funny...because I had the same reaction that you had. Praise the Lord! I felt a joy overcome me that was not of myself. How strange is it huh? But I think it was a confirmation for me that what I was doing was a good thing, because He warned us that we would be hated by the world. good stuff:).
ReplyDelete....and i like your engineering perspective in the beginning...very cool. :)