{"id":3382,"date":"2012-03-04T01:03:13","date_gmt":"2012-03-04T07:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?p=3382"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:33:44","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:33:44","slug":"what-if-your-soul-is-hard-as-a-rock-inspiration-from-the-high-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2012\/03\/04\/what-if-your-soul-is-hard-as-a-rock-inspiration-from-the-high-calling\/","title":{"rendered":"What If Your Soul Is Hard as a Rock? Inspiration from The High Calling"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><h3 style=\"text-align: center\">What If Your Soul Is Hard as a Rock?<\/h3>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalm%20114:1-8;&amp;version=NLT;\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Psalm 114:1-8<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>He turned the rock into a pool of water;<br>\nyes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalm%20114:8;&amp;version=NLT;\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Psalm 114:8<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Do you ever feel bone-dry spiritually? Does your soul ever seem to be  hard as a rock? Do you ever worry about whether you will once again be  tender and open toward the Lord?<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps you\u2019ve never gone through a period of severe spiritual  dryness? If that\u2019s true for you, praise God! But most Christians do  experience times in which our souls are so dry that they seem hard as a  rock. We know we should spend devotional time with God, but the fact is  we don\u2019t want to. We know we should want to gather with other believers  to worship the Lord. But, when the time comes for Sunday services, we  look desperately for excuses to stay away. We know we should work  joyfully as though serving God and not people. But, too often, work  feels completely disconnected from our faith. We still believe all the  things we used to believe about God. But our desire for him has  vanished, and we\u2019re left with stony souls.<\/p>\n<p>If you can relate to what I\u2019m saying, then Psalm 114 has good news  for you. God is in the business of getting water from rocks. Verse 8  looks back to the miraculous way God supplied water to the Israelites  after he delivered them from Egypt: \u201cHe turned the rock into a pool of  water; yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock.\u201d This verse  celebrates how God produced literal water from a literal rock (see Exod.  17:5-6). The Hebrew word translated here as \u201csolid rock\u201d is more  literally rendered as \u201cflint,\u201d which is a particularly hard rock. God  can get water, not just from soft, porous rocks, but from those that are  absolutely rigid and unyielding.<\/p>\n<p>If God can turn a rock into a pool of water, if God can make water  flow from flint, then he can transform our hearts even when they seem to  be impervious to his grace. This is good news, indeed. So, if you find  yourself in a spiritually rocky place today at work or at home, turn to  the Lord. Ask him to make living water flow from your stony heart.<\/p>\n<p><strong>QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:<\/strong> Have you ever  been in a very dry place spiritually? Are you still there? In the past,  how has God softened your heart toward him?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>PRAYER: <\/strong>Dear Lord, how I thank you for being a  powerful, merciful God who gets water even from flint. How I thank you  for your patience and grace with me. When I resist you, when my heart is  stony, you nevertheless reach out to me in your grace.<\/p>\n<p>Lord, you know the state of my heart today. I pray that however I am  closed to you, you will help me to be open. And, in whatever way my  heart is rock solid, may your living water flow out from me.<\/p>\n<p>All praise be to you, mighty, merciful God! <em>Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>_________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehighcalling.org\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-38\" style=\"margin: 5px\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/sites\/44\/2011\/04\/high-calling-screenshot-new-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"288\" height=\"221\"><\/a>Would you like to receive a Daily Reflection like this one in your email inbox each morning?<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how . . . .<strong><em><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This devotional comes from <em>The High Calling: Everyday Conversations about Work, Life, and God <\/em>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehighcalling.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.thehighcalling.org<\/a>). You can read my Daily Reflections there, or sign up to have them sent to your email inbox each day. This website contains lots of encouragement for people who are trying to live out their faith in the workplace. <em>The High Calling<\/em> is associated with Laity Lodge, where I work.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What If Your Soul Is Hard as a Rock? Psalm 114:1-8 He turned the rock into a pool of water; yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock. Psalm 114:8 Do you ever feel bone-dry spiritually? Does your soul ever seem to be hard as a rock? Do you ever worry about whether you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7933],"tags":[16811],"class_list":["post-3382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration-high-calling","tag-psalm-114"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What If Your Soul Is Hard as a Rock? Inspiration from The High Calling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What If Your Soul Is Hard as a Rock? Psalm 114:1-8 He turned the rock into a pool of water; yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock. 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