“…a stone of stumbling…”~ 1 Pet. 2:8
The stone Israel stumbled over (Christ) could have been their stepping stone to get them out of the mess their lives were in. They hated the very Stone that could have helped them.
Some people despise the thing they’ve tripped over, not realizing it can be turned for their good. That is, a stepping stone to get them out of the dire situation that has walled them in.
When Jacob was in such a situation he said, “All these things are against me,” not realizing they were working for his good. On the other hand his son Joseph, when in a like predicament , said, “God meant it for good.”
Whenever those stumbling stones cross our path we need, like Joseph, to put God in it. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Years ago I heard a preacher tell the following story. In the small town of Enterprise, Alabama people raised cotton, but the boll-weevils destroyed their crops. So they went underground, so to speak, and raised peanuts. Coffee County became the leading producer of peanuts in the entire country.