Rock. Water. Clay.

by Jonathan

We recently took a trip to Thailand to visit our friends and to explore new fields for future ministry. It was a blessed time where we got to catch up with people who have been intricate part of our lives during our stint in Thailand as well as to meet many new friends.
 
One of the places we were at was Chaiyaphum, a province around 2 hours drive from Khon Kaen in the North-Eastern region of Thailand. It was there that we met a missionary family whom we spent 2 days with in ministry and also getting to know their lives as they have been in Thailand for around 6 years.

When talking about ministry to Buddhists, one thing that the missionary said stuck with me (I am paraphrasing as I can’t remember the exact words she used): We think of opposition like cutting a stone with a knife. Sparks fly and the knife blade may be blunted or even break. But the stone may remain without a scratch and not even close to breaking. However, for Buddhists, it is less of cutting a stone but more like cutting water. The water parts easily as the knife enters it, but when the knife blade is removed, the water reforms as if nothing was ever done to it. That is another form of opposition.
 
The analogy of stone and water made me think of how that is so similar to our lives as Christians. For some of us, we are like the stone. We see our character, thoughts, ambitions and dreams as solidified and immovable, mistaking stubbornness as determination. And when the knife of God’s Word comes into contact with us, sparks of friction fly as we resist and argue against God. And while God’s Word neither blunts nor breaks, while we may claim to follow Christ, encountering God and His Word does not produce transformation in our lives and we remain as before we knew Him.
 
Psalms 81:11 -12 is one of the many psalms in which God rebukes His people for their stubbornness, with the warning issued to Israel being just as pertinent to us today that if we are stubborn to choose our own way instead of God’s, He will allow us to go our own way and reap the consequences of doing so.

Then there are those who are like water. They seem to be submissive and agree to every word and godly advice spoken to them. However, the Word of God spoken is sown into their lives and received into their hearts but do not take root. By being indecisive, bogged down by distractions and temptations of this world, or just wanting to please those around, they reject the Word of God and in the end are as unchanged as the stone.
 
James 1:22 – 24 urges us to not just listen to God’s word but to do it, because by not doing it we are as foolish as the man who sees his face in the mirror and after looking away, immediately forgets what he has seen.

When considering these two analogies, I think that the better way is to be like clay. The Bible is full of illustrations of clay (Jeremiah 18, Romans 9:14 – 24) and to me, the beauty of clay is in how mouldable it is and how its form is determined fully by the Potter. It can assume any shape based solely on the will of Him who moulds it. And one more interesting thing about clay is that, while soft and malleable, when encountering intense heat, rather than disintegrating, it retains its shape and hardens to become usable. This is an encouragement for me even as we sometimes see people who fall away from God in times of trial and difficulty, that God did not mean for tribulations to break us. But during trouble, we are called to stand firm and cling onto God our Stronghold and Rock who will strengthen us in the shape and calling and keep us faithful in following Him.
 
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58