The Secret of the Diamond
“For since the creation of the world, His invisible nature and attributes – that is,
His eternal power and divinity – have been made intelligible and clearly
discernible in and through the things that have been made –
His own handiworks” (Rom. 1:20 Amp).
One morning as I was driving to work, I was praying one of my typical rushing-to-work-stressing-out prayers. I finally whined, “Lord, You’ve just got to do something about this pressure in my life! I am surely going to crack up any day now!” (or something along those lines). Anyway, I arrived at the shop, pulled myself together as best I could, and got to work. Not long after the store opened a customer walked in with a four-carat diamond he had brought in for consignment. After he left, the shop owner came to show me the gem and told me how to look for the characteristics of a diamond that determine its value.
“Yes, this one is practically flawless,” he said, “but there are still a few tiny carbon specks here and there. Take a look.” It looked perfect to me! Even with the help of the magnifying glass, I couldn’t see them at first… All I saw was beauty and glitter – the thing was magnificent. Then I saw them – practically undetectable amidst all those sparkles, but there.
“Whatever made those black specks?” I asked him. “How did they get there?”
“Oh, well, that’s all diamonds are in their first state, just black lumps of carbon. It’s pressure that makes a diamond. Prolonged periods of extreme pressure are what transforms coal and causes it to become a diamond. God does it.”
O.K. Lord, I’m listening!
Over the next hour or so I learned many other things about the diamond. I was absolutely fascinated as I studied it, enthralled by its beauty. “What makes it sparkle so? Is that part of the stone?” I asked him.
“Oh, no.” he said, “It’s the cuts in the diamond, called facet cuts, which reflect the light and make it such a thing of beauty.” I read later that a diamond has special optical properties that guarantee its preeminence among gems because of its high refractive index, or light bending ability, that enables it to throw back almost all the light that enters a well-cut gem. Facet cutting uses smooth, flat faces, which are cut into the gem at precise angles so that the greatest amount of light is refracted. Gem cutting is an art that, when done by an expert master craftsman, is able to transform rough gems and bring out to the fullest its greatest beauty and highest value. The best-proportioned ones throw back the most light. I realized, too, that though it sparkled and shone from every direction, the diamond was loveliest when viewed from directly above. In other words, the fullest effect of all those facet cuts, their size, shape, placement, was most stunning when viewed from the top looking down into the heart of the stone.
“What about the size?” was my next question. “Why is a stone this size so valuable? Is it rare to find one like it?”
“To find a cut stone this size is indeed rare, which is why it is so expensive,” he said. “You see, diamonds are usually found by sifting, and then only about 20% of those mined are suitable for gemstones. When they do get to the cutter, he then determines how much of a cut and which size and type the stone will bear. He familiarizes himself with it and learns the way ‘the grain’ of that particular stone runs before he sets to work. The finished product is so much smaller than when he begins because most stones crumble into smaller pieces when they are cut, and yet no part of it goes to waste. The diamond is such a hard stone that even its powder has usefulness.”
It’s the pressure that makes the diamond. The words kept racing through my mind all day long. I felt so awed as I considered it all, and I felt a little afraid, too. The price is too high! Clay I can do, but a diamond?! I can’t do it! I don’t think I want to do it… I won’t do it!
I paced. I pined. I pouted. I stomped my little foot!
I relented. I repented. I rested. And I remembered…
God’s will will be accomplished in my life, despite me and my abilities (and/or lack of them). That was an issue we had settled long ago, God and I. He would be God in my life, in every issue and area of it; He the Master, I His servant. The roles were established and would not be changed. I will not question Him or seek to change His mind. Thou alone art God!
O.K. Lord, I’m watching, I’m waiting.
After two days I went back to the schoolroom and seated myself right back down at the feet of the Teacher, and I’m learning as I watch and attend to His movements in and around me. He has wonders to share, and I ask myself how I could ever doubt His plan and wisdom, or consider the possibility that any other way could be better.
There must be a secret to all this, I thought. Perhaps there’s some key that will unlock vast hidden treasures? Even diamonds are formed in dark and hidden places. Tell me, Master Creator, what is the secret of the diamond?
Then I realized it. The secret is not in and of the diamond itself, but in the sovereignty of the Creator of the diamond. The diamond does nothing but wait out the long processes of nature and become what it was intended to be by remaining so that the process can be completed. The more complete the process the purer the diamond. Yes, the process can be interrupted. It can be hindered. It can be altered. Only if it remains where it is set can coal become diamond.
As for me, I’m not moving, O God! I will be still. Help me, enable me to endure. I am so weak and fearful at times…. May Thy strength be perfected here in even me!
Is pressure more pleasant to me now? Do I like it? No way! But I’m learning to trust the wisdom and judgment of the Father Who applies or allows it – or the use of it – in a new way, and I’m amazed as I see His hand in it; the benefits I’m reaping cannot be taken away. Pressure has a way of bringing up and out of us things we may not have known were down inside. It reveals to us, if we are honest, the truth about ourselves, and leads us to new revelations of the truth about our God – the kind of truth that sets us free.
So, I’m listening carefully, I’m watching, I’m waiting, I’m gleaning every grain I can find and I’m storing them up in a basket. And when the pressure finally all lets up, as I know it must, God will have something to show for it, something worthy of praise for His master craftsmanship, a gemstone worthy to adorn the crown of a King. A diamond!
Even me, O God, let it be me!
“We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so
that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the
sentence of death. But this happened that we might not trust and rely
on ourselves but on God, Who raises the dead.” (II Cor. 1:8 and 9)