Restoration in due season

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. 1 Peter 5:6, KJV

When I was in the home of Wang Ming-Dao, a Chinese pastor who had been imprisoned for 22 years, I told this aged and venerated brother that years before, I had read his book, A Stone Made Smooth. With a twinkle in his eye, he responded, “Stone still not yet smooth.”

The premise of this book is that God uses the pain and heartache we would never choose to get rid of the rough spots and make us like a stone smoothed by the abrasions of bouncing along a stream bed. Have you experienced that? There are some situations that we avoid, yet when we have gone through them, others see the change that has taken place.

I thought of that recently when I was at a conference and ran into an acquaintance I had not seen for many years. As a former college classmate, he had a reputation for being proud and arrogant. But the man I met was gracious, humble and the very opposite of the person I once knew.

“What happened to him that he changed so much?” I inquired of a mutual friend.

“God broke him through difficult circumstances,” he replied.

Getting reacquainted with the man I had not seen for many years, I said, “You’re not the same person I once knew.”

He then began to tell me of what he had been through, including a broken marriage and heartache I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Today, he’s a stone made smooth. The proud and arrogant spirit has been replaced by gentleness and humility.

Peter wrote that God, in due season, will lift up the one who pushes pride aside and humbles himself. Stones that are made smooth go through difficult times, but the world likes what they see when the stone is polished and smooth. Indeed.

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Used with permission from Guidelines International Ministries. To learn more about Guidelines and the ministry, send an e-mail to [email protected]. You may also visit www.guidelines.org.