Leave no stone unturned

“As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.” Luke 21:6

To leave no stone unturned means that every option will be taken in order to achieve what is desired. This idiom derives from a Greek legend about hunting for a buried treasure left by King Xerxes who was defeated when trying to conquer Greece.

One of my fondest childhood memories was Easter at grandma's house. She had the entire family over after church and then afterwards we spent the afternoon looking for eggs. Usually my uncle hid them and he did a great job putting them up in trees, buried in daffodils, and any inconspicuous place he could think of. When all was set, we would run outside to search for all the eggs and then we’d do it again. To this day there’s something gratifying about finding unexpected treasures.

As Jesus’ time on earth drew closer to an end, he spoke of prophecies of what was to come but the human mind couldn’t comprehend what he always said. As he walked through the temple in Jerusalem, he said to his disciples in Luke 21:6, “...not one stone will be left on another;...”. I’m sure they had no idea that seventy years after his death, his words would be fulfilled when the Romans destroyed the temple. They literally took it apart stone by stone to extract the jewels and the gold that had melted into the stones when it was burned.

Today, just as it has been throughout history, leaders invade other countries all on a quest for power and wealth. They attain ill-gotten gains, sometimes even pilfering through the rubble to find any treasure. These godless acts are all driven by selfish egos and greed.

God has called us to be good stewards of what we’ve been blessed with so He can use our resources to glorify Him. When we attain riches for our selfish gain, God is not honored. In Matthew 6:21, Jesus warns us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

When we lose something that is valuable, we turn the house upside down until we find it, or at least I do. You could say we leave no stone unturned until it is found. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hunted for the car keys, that’s why I now have a hook at the back door.

Before I was a believer, I was always searching for something to fill the void in my life. I didn’t realize what I was looking for until I found it, or should I say God found me. Jesus was the treasure I found. The moment I believed, a peace filled my heart that I had never experienced before, as it says in Philippians 4:7, “...a peace that transcends all understanding.” I believe God uses the circumstances around us to get our attention because we are His ultimate treasure.