The Lodestar

Every stone tower's story begins at the quarry where its blocks originate. The structure that now reaches into the sky started in a pit deep below the earth’s surface.

The Lord uses the stone quarry metaphor to encourage the discouraged exiles in Babylon. They are not only second-class citizens in the land of their sojourn but also a negligible minority who have lost hope of becoming a nation again.

To motivate them and instil hope, the Lord reminds them that their origin was from two stones that grew into a vast building. The nation of Israel begins with two individuals, Abraham and Sarah.

From Abraham and Sarah, both barren for most of their adult lives, came Isaac, the father of Jacob. Jacob, who had twelve sons, became the founder of the nation of Israel. Although the ruler of Egypt oppressed them and attempted to limit their population growth, they still grew into a vast nation. Although the edifice is now shattered, the Lord can still do what he had done in the past—rebuild it from the faithful remnant preserved in exile.

Hope in life comes from our experience of the Lord in the past. When we forget the past, we lose hope. Hope is believing that the Lord can do what he has done previously. The story of the quarry, our past, holds great power to drive us towards a hopeful future.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Psa 103:2).