Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me, Let me Hide Myself in Thee

Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight…Please show me your glory. (Exodus 33)

The Church would be well served by a groundswell of prayer modeled on the heart of Moses. A small booklet should be written on this powerful prayer! Suffice it to say, Moses, after centering his entire life on seeking the Face of God has one chance to ask the Lord for anything…anything, and he says, “Please show me your glory.”

The Lord then places him in the cleft of a rock and allows Moses to see his back because no man can see his face and live. Imagine the feeling of ecstasy that must have ruptured within Moses as he beheld the glory of the Lord! In our society, where gazing upon beauty is no longer a fine-tuned virtue performed by the disciplined eye, but is reduced to consuming cheap and amusing images, it is difficult to imagine what Moses experienced. Even more, it is difficult to imagine that given the chance any one of us would make this same request. And yet, the Psalmist joins Moses by praying “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”

As we prayed over this prayer of Moses, I was reminded that the cleft rock is often understood to be a symbol for Christ. Moses is placed in the Rock as a place of protection. It is from the cleft that he is able to see the Glory of God. But, I think it is significant that Moses is placed in the cleft.

I saw a picture of many people kneeling before the Cross in confession. As, forgiveness was being poured out, we climbed the body of Christ and literally climbed into his wounds. While in his wounds we could see the Glory of God. It is in the unity of Christ’s suffering that we are exposed to the vision of God’s Glory. No wonder that Paul writes, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Why would he want so badly to be united with the suffering of Christ? Perhaps, because it is in that place that we are able to see God’s beauty most clearly.

Be Blessed