One Stone Unturned

Exodus 14:13 Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.

I stood at the altar with tears streaming down my face.  I knew I was about to make a huge mistake.  But when I made the commitment to marry, I believed it would last a lifetime.  It never occurred to me years later the fabric of my marriage would be torn to pieces.  When my marriage ended, I never anticipated that God would offer me a second chance at life.  God, full of mercy of grace, gave me Scott and two more daughters.

When someone meets us and sees how well our lives turned out, we are often asked, "Was it God's will for you to divorce and marry?  Is this part of His plan?" This is a great question.  The answer is no.  Even knowing how amazingly happy and in love we are, neither one of would if we could turn back time divorce our first spouses.  We would stand in the most tumultuous moments of our marriage and try harder, give more and love unconditionally.  We believe through the power of God, our first marriages could have been saved.  We also believe that was God's perfect will for our lives.

This answer usually surprises the inquirer.  God has redeemed our mistakes for our good and His kingdom but it doesn't negate the sin we committed.

Today's passage is Mark 13.  Jesus peers through the lens of time to see Jerusalem destroyed.  He warns His disciples that some day no stone will remain of the city's hallmark - the temple.  This image was inconceivable.  They could not imagine a Jerusalem torn and destroyed.

Have you ever reached a point in life when your stones were tossed about?  If you're like me when you stood at the altar, birthed your child or started your business you could not imagine that day.  You were devastated when your daughter allowed drugs to destroy her life.  You were shocked when your business partner embezzled your profits.  How did life turn out this way?

Like me, if you could turn back the hands of time, you likely would.  You could get your daughter counseling early on or select a different partner.  I can not time travel back to 1990 and transform my first marriage any more than you can right the tumbled stones in your life.

So what can we do?  We can stand on the unshakable, unchangeable, everlasting Word of God.  As Mark 13 closes, Christ boldly proclaims that heaven and earth will pass away but the promises of God will not.  I stand in my current marriage and declare that divorce is not an option.  I can by faith choose to believe God and build my current marriage on the lasting foundation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, when life crumbles, You stand firm.  You do not tremble at circumstances.  You have no fear of tomorrow.  Your promises hold true.  They do not fail.  Today I will stand on the Cornerstone.  You are the Stone Unturned.