Panning for Gems

Isaiah 62:3 - You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God

Recently my wife and I had the opportunity to pan for gemstones in the mines of Franklin, North Carolina.  In years past people panned these mines primarily for gold.  The gems such as garnets, emeralds, rubies, and other precious stones were tossed away on the mine floors.

The instructions by the prospector on sight for our experience were quite simple. “Keep every stone and fragment you find.” 

 So in our excitement of finding expensive gems, we took our slush boxes, poured sand into the box, got near the running water, and then in shaking the boxes in the water, all we found were rocks.  Normally,  people just throw those rocks down and look for the shiny green emerald, or glistening red ruby.  But we obeyed the prospector and put everything in our tray.

When finished, we took our ugly rocks inside for someone to evaluate.  I thought she was crazy or that the woman viewing the stones was just giving us a sales pitch but with an excited tone in his voice, she began describing the rocks in the tray, as topaz, garnets, emeralds, and so forth. 

She pulled out another tray and said, “and we can do this to these stones”.  Right!  Take a muddy rock and make it sparkle like those stones.  Previously at another location we panned for some stones with our mothers watching the master jeweler cut and polished some of our rocks. 

It was during this process, that I saw a marvelous transformation.  A gem cutter studied the rock and then took a tool to chip away at the outer edge.  Then he would buff the edge and look at it again.  With one cut after another and some polishing, the rock became a beautiful gem.  The master cutter would hold it up to the light for flaws and continue with his work.  When he finished his task, you could see a dark red garnet that glistened in the light.  It was amazing what a master cutter could see and do when we only saw rocks.

Our life is just like panning for gems.  The world may have looked at you and saw your life just like a stone that should be thrown away.  But a Christian friend or someone that was a part of your life may have seen you as much more.  They spent the time with you and showed you God’s love and the value that you have to Him. 

When you gave your life to Christ, you were still a rough stone.  Old habits, and issues did not just fall away. 

Just like the gemstone, this is not an instant process.  It may take months or years before events such as abuse, control, alcoholism, or other issues are cut away.  But, through the Holy Spirit, your prayer time, friends, and study of the Bible with others in small groups, the rough edges will drop off.

So when you are forced to confront and deal with old habits or issues, it is not because God is angry or punishing you.  He is just making you more of the beautiful gemstone He knows you are.