When we begin to explore God’s word, it doesn’t take too long to discover that God uses tangible symbols as a way of communicating to us. Often God’s people are instructed to make use of symbols to help them understand or remember what God is teaching them. Some examples of symbols include

• the rainbow as the sign of God’s covenant to us that He will never again destroy the earth by a flood (Genesis 9:13),
• the placement of the twelve stones in the River Jordan to remind the Israelites of the crossing God had provided for them “as a sign” and “memorial” (Joshua 4:3-7),
• the star of Bethlehem to signify the birth of Christ (Matthew 2:2),
• the dove to signify the Spirit’s presence at Jesus’ baptism (John 1:32),
• water to signify one’s commitment to Christ at baptism (Romans 6:4),
• bread and wine to signify Jesus’ body and blood (1 Corinthians 11:23-26),
• the symbol of a lamb to represent Jesus Christ (John 1:29), and
• my heartstone (Joshua 24:27 NLT).

Also, we still use symbols today to communicate important moments of significance such as wedding rings, birthday cakes, birth stones, and red roses. They are used today as a natural way of communicating significant meaning. There are also many references to the symbolism of stones in the bible, but here are some that I have collected that have significance for me.

Stones were widely used as building materials to build walls:

The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul. It had taken fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard the news and all the surrounding nations saw it, our enemies totally lost their nerve. They knew that God was behind this work.—Nehemiah 6:15, 16 (MSG)

Jesus Christ is our “Cornerstone”:

Jesus said, “Right—and you can read it for yourselves in your Bibles: The stone the masons threw out is now the cornerstone. This is God’s work; we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it! “This is the way it is with you. God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life. Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed. —Matthew 21:42-44 (MSG)

Stones were used as weapons for protection.

…

My heart of hardened stone finally fractured along its four chambers because of an overexposure to the “truth” and an under response to the Truth. With tears running down my face, I would hold out the four fractured pieces of stone in the darkness of my hand up into the cold air of that desolate mountaintop as an offering to the Lord—the symbolic pieces of my broken heart.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. —Psalms 51:17 (KJV)

“Lord, help me with all these regrets I am carrying! Take these pieces of stone, the scattered pieces of who I am, as the sacrifice of my broken heart and make me whole! I want to get well!”

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh. —Ezekiel 11:19 (KJV)

Heaven collided with Earth as the fabric of time unstitched itself and stood still as He gently blanketed me with a covering of peace. Burdened with all the garbage I collected and carried with me over the years, such as rejection, betrayal, and shame, I couldn’t grasp how He could love me so much and why He came to me, but I am so glad He did. I allowed the Lord to break through and invade my life as I soaked in the stillness of His awesome presence on the mountaintop. This was the place where my sorrow collided with the joy of His grace! It was awesome being here with Him, and I wanted to stay longer, but He revealed in my heart that the necessary growth could only take place in the valleys of life and not here on the mountaintop. With a renewed strength, I walked down from the mountaintop with the Lord into the valleys. This is where I would spend more time shedding tears and getting to know myself, and most importantly, getting to know God.

We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation. God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to better ourselves into the shape of our own goal. The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it. —Oswald Chambers

These four stones would eventually become my “heap of stones” that I would place in the dry riverbed of my past as a signpost to always remember where I have been. To be blessed with a revelation of God that brings us to a place in our lives where we become completely reliant on the very character of Him becomes the source of our strength and the wellspring of our joy.

The only way we can step into the scene of the vision He has so majestically painted for us is to rest in His very nature, to trust Him, and to see Him for who He really and truly is. And that was just what He had planned for me.

Somehow a bird’s-eye view simply clarifies for us the lay of the land, and sometimes you cannot get this any way other than through divine perspective on the mountaintop. You might come to the conclusion that my life would change instantly, that my sorrows would have been left on that mountain. The reality is that I had to walk through more stuff and it would take years to walk it out. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, God will be with me no matter what. I only fail when I stop trying. With this new perspective, I was ready to quiet my spirit so I could hear the soft, gentle voice of my Heavenly Father sing the dreams He had for me.

God began to heal my sin-sick soul.

Now it was time for Him to redeem it!

What symbols has God used in your life?