We're not perfect--and we know it all too well. If we turn on the TV, the commercials remind us of what is lacking in our lives. We could be healthier, younger and more popular. We all have something we wish we could change about ourselves.

When we see our naked inadequacy exposed, we scramble and try to fix things. And, truth be told, many things can be fixed. We can change our eating habits and even our attitudes. In some areas, we can see improvement and be encouraged. And we're happy when we can make things happen.

But there are other areas of our lives that we've written off. What do you do if you were born with a physical handicap? How do you "fix" the fact that you've always been terribly shy since you were a child? Where is the fountain of youth? Can someone in their 60s snap their fingers and become 25 years old again? Some things in our lives are too hard to change, and so we've given up. 

It's like having a giant stone in the middle of a wheat field. Other areas of our life may be fruitful and productive, but there's always that one thing in our lives that's holding us back. We wish we could change things, but we can't. So we learn to live with it. We cut our losses and try to move on. 

But is that how we should treat these immovable stones in our lives?

Believe it or not there was a man in the Bible, Joshua from the city of Beth Shemesh, who had a stone in his field. A literal stone in a literal field. We read his story in 1 Samuel chapter six.

If Joshua had been alive today, he might just have used a monstrous tractor to unearth that giant rock. But back in the days of the Old Testament, John Deere was not an option. So, Joshua probably just wrote off that part of his field. His neighbors were all harvesting wheat (verse 13), and he likely was too -- from the other portions of his field that could yield grain.

Maybe his neighbors even teased Joshua about that huge stone in his field -- "Hey Joshua, you gettin' 'round to pulling that stone out of your field this year?"

If I were Joshua of Beth Shemesh, I'd probably just shrug off the jokes and the loss of field production and get on with my life. I wouldn't expect anything good to come from that piece of land. 

And that's why my jaw would drop when I would see two stupid cows coming over the hill that would change my life. In Joshua's case, he saw two cows -- without a person leading them -- pulling a cart. And on that cart was the Ark of the Covenant. 

What was the Ark of the Covenant? In Joshua's day, it was the symbol of his people's relationship to God Almighty. It was a box that carried the two tablets of the law, a jar of manna and Aaron's staff. It was a reminder of all God had done for Israel in the wilderness. It was the object the priests carried before the Jewish people as they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and the symbol of God's presence as He went before them in war to take the city of Jericho. 

And here was the Ark of the Covenant showing up, quite unannounced, on Joshua's doorstep. 

Where had the Ark been? If you had a relic that sacred, wouldn't you protect it? Yes, you would. But we read in the fourth chapter of 1 Samuel that the enemies of God's people, the Philistines, captured the Ark. Why did God allow that to happen? God brought judgment upon Eli (the leader of God's people) for not restraining the wickedness of his sons, who were the priests of the people (1 Samuel 2:17; 3:13-14). God's people were treating His presence with contempt. So God let his glory depart from His people for a time (1 Samuel 4:21-22). 

As it turns out, the enemies of God's people couldn't handle Him or His Ark. God showed Himself to be holy in their sight on His own, despite His people's unfaithfulness. He tumbled the Philistines' idols (1 Samuel 5:1-5) and brought destruction to those who would try to contain Him (1 Samuel 5:6-12). So, the Philistines put the Ark on a cart lead by two cows and let it run free. And God brought the Ark of His presence back to His people.

Where did the Ark of the glory of God land? Right next to that eyesore of a rock in Joshua's field (1 Samuel 6:14). And the people put the Ark upon that rock. Eventually that rock became a reminder of how God showed His holiness to both the Israelites and to the enemies of God (1 Samuel 6:18). 

We should do the same thing with the giant stones in our own lives. I'm not saying we should tolerate anything sinful in our lives. We need to live rightly before God. What I am saying is that we need to allow God to have access to the "written off" areas of our lives so He can use our weakness and shame to display His holiness and glory.

"God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong" -- 1 Corinthians 1:27