[image: Cleft of the Rock, 2013, JA Van Devender]
Location: Peggy's Inlet, NS, Canada
Exodus 33:19–22 (NKJV)
19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.
It seems to matter little at all whether I am in the high Rocky mountains or the precipitous boulders that border the Atlantic ocean in Nova Scotia, I am amazed at how resilient life is.
I have seen beautiful flowers growing on the underside of sheer rock ledges at Zion National Park in Utah and of course, this flourishing beauty poking out from its hidey-hole in the cleft of the rock at Peggy's Cove. I've seen trees with exposed roots clinging to nothing but granite, arrogantly defying the wind that threatens to rip them up, atop the cliffs surrounding Harper's Ferry, WVa. How is it that the arid gravel which is the soil of the Saguaro National Forest is able to support not only the famous cacti but also an amazingly diverse combination of flora and fauna and birds galore? To me it is a wondrous thing.
Moses had come a long way from his first direct encounter with God at that burning bush. There he was timid, hesitant, very Jonah-like in his reaction to God's command and intentions for his life. "You want me to go where and speak to who and say what?" generally conveys the impression one gets from reading that story. And then came the excuses... "I'm not qualified... I don't talk good.... you really ought to get someone else." No, Moses was not particularly enthused nor confident on that day.
And now here he is. Look at him. He has seen God's hand at work. He has walked before God's people following God's leading clouds and seen Him respond to every challenge with authority and blessing. He had spoken to God and for God on that dreadful mountain... and had lived. This was a different Moses... this was sanctification at work.
He hears God's intention to condemn and destroy His people and Moses, in some deep recess of his soul discovered a truth he would have never considered before. Something didn't sound right. God must not really mean this. It was counter to everything He had learned about God for God to truly intend to destroy the people that He had gone to such great pains to save out of Egypt... to feed with manna in the desert... to show Himself to on the mountain. God had shown, in unmistakeable terms, how He intended to use these people to His glory. Something inside of him, the Holy Spirit I am certain, whispered to his consciousness and gave him courage to say -"God... you can't really mean this... you won't let your work perish... you will not subject your glory to ridicule... O God, No."
Now that takes courage... a courage that can only come from God because it leads a person to stand before God in confidence and talk to Him about HIS Kingdom. This was the apex... here we see God's glory shining in Moses... here we see how God can take the arid soil of a desert... or a bare boulder on a mountain... and cause life to spring forth and bring forth flowers that hail the wonder of an all sovereign, all wise God.
Moses' inspired confidence lead him then to even greater heights of what would otherwise be impudence. He asked for God to show him His glory. He asked for a telescope into heaven, to view that which man had been cut off from seeing since Adam's fall. He asked for the privilege of beholding God ... as He is... which means that He wanted the privilege of transcending his own creaturely finitude. He wanted to see God's glory in its timeless, eternal, infinite majesty . God very clearly and emphatically tells him no.
Sinful man, creaturely man who is restricted to three dimensions and time, cannot be given such a vision for it would, literally, destroy him. Man's mind, prior to glorification, can only see God through a mediator... or in glimpses... metaphorically as "His back".
Moses was hidden in the cleft of the rock as God "passed by." The very wonder of life is protected by the stones that surround it... or that form the foundation which is gripped by its roots. God's mercy extends not only to revealing Himself to us but also to shielding our eyes from that which would fatally burn through them.
Now we see "through a mirror darkly" in the beautiful words of the old King James version. We look at the Sun only through the blackened lenses of protective shades. We can stand only so much of God's glory as He well knows. We live in the cleft of a rock. All about us is harsh reality and the snuffing winds of death but we have been brought to flower by His grace and we are shielded by His providence. What other men see as wasteland, we see as the sphere of God's blessing. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, that shadows a dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depth of His love, and covers me there with His hand. Fannie knew of what she spoke.
Peeking out from the rocks is life... and that more abundantly. We should give thanks for the rocks that guard us even as they remind us that God's glory is manifested in just this way: the apparent incongruity of flourishing life where the world says there should be none.
Comments