We had worked hard all week and finished our work early, leaving Sunday open for exploring this magnificent city, so of course we headed right up to the castle. I believe that this was another God stumble, for what I found hidden in the middle of this awesome structure was a treasure of Scotland: the Stone of Destiny. I don’t know about you, but thought this was really cool, although the guard didn’t think so when I tried to get a picture of it.
In 1296 the Stone was captured by Edward I as spoils of war and taken to Westminster Abbey, where it was fitted into a wooden chair, known as St. Edward’s Chair. On this chair, subsequent English sovereigns, except Queen Mary II, have been crowned. In 1996, the British Government decided that the Stone should be kept in Scotland when not in use at coronations, and on November 15, 1996, after a handover ceremony at the border between representatives of the Home Office and of the Scottish Office, it was returned to Scotland and transported to Edinburgh Castle where it remains today. Scottish tradition holds the Stone of Destiny to be the pillow stone said to have been used by the biblical Jacob.
This in a sense became a signpost for me and I knew that woven into my business trip to a far away land was the confirmation of my destiny moment back on that mountain top.
It’s important to realize that this world is not our final destination; it is part of our journey! Many obstacles and sinful desires are at war with us in this life, and they usually are successful in distracting us from our goal and over time slowly erode our desire to complete our journey. It is only through the awesome sustaining power of the Spirit of God that we are given the confidence and character to journey through this world, trapped in darkness and so desperately needing God’s light.
We desperately need these divine signposts to reorient us toward our goal!
These stones have become a signpost by which I can now stand in my present, look to my past, and then draw a straight line into my unknown future, which is already written by God Himself. They have become my compass, my destiny, which sets the means by which I can now define my present, and my future, by the way of my past. They are symbolic of the process of God.
All the mistakes and regrettable choices that I have made along my journey of life have placed an unbearable yoke of brokenness on me, but somehow He is leading me into the Promised Land and supernaturally making time wasted, useful again. I really thought that I had fallen out of His hands and lost His grace. I am really thankful that He is changing my perspective.
With a broken compass and stumbling in the midst of life, I lost my direction and I couldn’t see the beautiful picture that the Lord would one day complete in me. These stones, these signposts are evidence of the grace the Lord has left me, reminding me of everything I have been through and what it took for Him to get to me.
