Tumbled Rocks

A number of years ago my sister bought me a rock tumbler for Christmas. I have an affinity for rocks and she thought that I would enjoy polishing them. She was right! It is a long process to polish rocks to a "wet look" finish, but they are so beautiful when they are finished. The process starts with heavy grit sand which you allow to tumble for up to three weeks. You then change out the grit for one that isn't as harsh and the process starts all over again. After three to four different sized grit sands, you end up with a polished gemstone.

As I was listening to a teacher recently, the thought of tumbling rocks came to my mind. The topic was on temptations in our trials and as she was talking I realized that our temptations are multi-dimensional. What I mean is that just because we think that we have conquered a temptation in a certain area of our life, there may be another dimension to that situation of which we aren't aware. For example: Let's say that you are tempted to get irritated by other drivers as you are headed for work. You pray for God's help to overcome and over the next few months or year, you realize that you are getting better and you think that it isn't really a problem for you anymore. But, you now find that you are irritated with people at the supermarket being in your way or too slow at the register. God has just revealed to you that the original sin of irritation on the road hasn't been completely overcome, and there is another dimension to your sin that needs to be addressed.

I personally had this revelation recently in an area of my life. I had submitted something to the Lord and really, truly was "over it", but low and behold a different aspect of the same problem was revealed to me and I realized that I truly hadn't submitted complete control over to the Lord. As I listened to the teacher talk about trials and temptations it made me see how we are in God's rock tumbler. He uses different grit trials to grind off certain sins, but even though the sin appears to be gone, a different grit of trial reveals that it is still embedded in us. Rocks require longer periods of time in the tumbler depending on their hardness. So too, it is with us, that the more stubborn we are to submit to God in repenting and laying ourselves at His feet, the longer He has to allow those trials to confront us. If we are a "soft" rock, less time is required for our sins to be tumbled out of us.

So, what needs to be polished off of you? Are you a "hard" rock that seems to go through the same trials over and over? Maybe you have had victory in an area of your life that you think you are "done with"; if so, ask the Lord to show you if that is the case. He may bring to light another dimension of that sin that needs to be addressed. It is exciting to see the rocks as they are transformed into beautiful gems. I am always amazed that something that looks ordinary and even not all that pretty can look so beautiful after being tumbled for awhile. We are the rocks in God's tumbler! What stage are you in, on your way to being God’s gemstone?

Read the book of James for encouragement to persevere. It isn't a long book, but it is full of wisdom.