1 Peter 2:4-5

“As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

When the Israelites crossed over the Jordan – at flood stage mind you -- God gave them instructions to build an altar to commemorate the miracle.  They were told to pick up stones from middle of the river bed, marking the place where God rolled back the waters and brought them safely across.  This altar, these stones, were to be a sign for the nation and for their children – a testimony and  remembrance of the hand of Almighty God.

I find it fascinating that the stones were picked up in the middle of the river…signifying the deepest part, the greatest challenge, the highest level of difficulty during their passage.  God did not tell them to pick up the stones along the bank of the river which would have been easily visible and accessible.  No, He instructed them to gather these stones of remembrance from the most potentially dangerous part of their journey.

So it is with our journey of faith. 

Oh, there are times when I build an altar of praise from any rocks laying around – quick to set up a sign of what God has done for me.  However, the altars of remembrance that are the most significant in my life are built from boulders that were embedded in the mud of the deepest part of a flood-stage river.  Mud-caked hands and broken fingernails scraped and clawed and lifted those stones out of position and placed them with tears into a new position of testimony, reflecting the covenant of my God to care and provide for my needs. 

And when I see those stones, I am instantly reminded of His deliverance…and I am quick to tell the story to all who will listen!

I shake my head with amazement, then-- reading the passage from 1 Peter above—that we are like living stones being built into a spiritual house.   Certainly, He has dug His nail-scarred hands down into the mud and mire of sin and lifted us out of the pit.  Perhaps those of us who have been rescued from the deepest point sing the loudest praise.

As we submit our lives to the Chief Cornerstone, Jesus Christ the Rock, we become a living stone on an altar of praise bringing glory to His mighty name!

Other scriptures:  Joshua 4:1-7 ; Psalm 40 ;  Romans 12:1