SCULPTURE IN PROGRESS

Image credit: travel.com

Trivia: Between being a painter and a sculptor, which calling did Michelangelo take pride in?   

Painting? No! He agonized about completing his Sistine Chapel "Creation"—did it in six years. It was in fact discontinued because of clumping problems with his paint and his back-breaking position while painting from a scaffolding. 

"I'm a sculptor, not a painter," he argued with Pope Julius II, but did it anyway because of the latter's insistence. 

One of Florence, Italy's most prized attractions today is Michelangelo's 15 ft. sculpture of David—the Bible's shepherd boy-turned hero who smote and killed Goliath with a single stone from his slingshot, and won Israel's war against the Philistines. 

Here's an interesting back-story on this piece of sculture: 

Two earlier sculptors rejected this quarried stone—"tall but narrow block full of imperfections, tiny holes, and visible veins," per travel.com; "it remained in the courtyard of the Opera del Duomo for another 25 years."

Till Michelangelo. Patiently chipping puny bits of hard impervious stone into dust, chisel by tiny chisel, hammer by hammer stoke, he turned this once rejected bloke into a masterpiece. 

Blokes. You and I. Ordinary. Dude. Dudette. Carnal. Sinful. Failure-bound.

Yet under our divine sculptor's chiseling, we can be a David, Pastor Steve Houston reminded us at church this Sunday. "We are all work in progress," he says. 

One tiny bit of chiseling is painful. Achey-breaky hearts. Pain. Discomfort. Depression. God allows all these to shape and mold us into the sculpture piece He originally wanted us to be—conformed to His image. 

"But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you," 1 Peter 5:10.

And He doesn't give up on us.  Not just yet. Even if you're like murderous Paul who persecuted believers (Acts). God used the hammer on him one day, and there he was, blind for three days, unable to eat or drink. 

A big jolt. A sledge hammer. God knows the kilojoules to hit us with to get our attention and keep us on the road again.

Jesus turned Paul's situation around. He just needed to ask, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" Then the biggest evangelist of all time came to being. 

God is all ears. With all the chiseling and hammering pounding you to pieces, who are you gonna call? Life is tough. Problems pounce sometimes in tsunami proportions. 

Sin all around—and within us—make life a bit messy. Why not come to the Rock of our salvation? 

The real David, Psalm 61:2-3 "From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings." 

With Jesus as your Lord and Savior and Refuge, no chiseling or hammering can topple you. 

Strengthened? Established? Settled? Yes!