A Message From Our Publisher
…and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Exodus 33:22 (NASB)
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee,” is a great hymn written from an experience of a young minister, who, while seeking shelter from a bad storm with lightning flashes, ran into a cave to avoid the threatening dangers of thunderbolts and drowning rains. While the comfort of a not so hospitable cave, barren of the soothing peace of a home, the song writer experienced the peace of God in a hole in a rock.
For the past couple of days and over the last month, it seemed as though people around me were experiencing some trials and tribulations that brought just how fragile life truly is. Even though it was others, I was feeling the anguish and pain also.
While trying to comfort them with words of encouragement, I would find myself looking like Niagara Falls with tears streaming down my face and my heart trembling like class five rapids.
Aside from close related tribulations, the political landscape of this country is creating ruptures in the fabric of our already torn citizenry, making it look more like moon craters than a skillfully homemade quilt sewn together with a multitude of fabrics used for comfort.
With all this turmoil, heart ache, suffering and near-death experiences, tragedy seems second nature.
So where do we go for relief?
Like Moses we long for God’s reassurance as His glory is revealed and His might is cast like a blanket upon the midnight skies.
Can we look upon God and comprehend all of who God is and still maintain any semblance of being human?
If we were to ask God to reveal His glory to us, like God answered Moses so graciously, “no one may see me and live.”
So, He placed Moses inside the rocks and covered him with His hand, that when He passed by, Moses only saw His back, yet Moses knew that God was with him.
Uncomfortable conditions, deadly situations and lying deceitful leaders/people incline us to trust that just as God whispered to Moses, “My Presence will go with you”, we can also discover protection in Him.
Like the minister during the storm and Moses in his time and place of need, when we shout out our needs in anguish, He will bring us into His presence and hide us in His care.
Most wise and eternal God, in the name of Jesus I come. When life’s unforgiving circumstances bind me up and try to carry me away, I cry out to You my “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.” I know that there is no better hiding place than the security of a hole in a rock with Your hand as the door. In Jesus’ name. Amen
