There are so many things we just don’t understand. There are so many times we cry out to the Lord, “why?” Too often life seems dark and dismal, like there is no hope of things getting bright again. We get on our knees and pray…pray for the Lord to notice how sad we are…Pray for the Lord to notice how bad things have gotten…Pray to the Lord to mend our broken heart…Pray for the Lord to deliver us from our hard times…
“Don’t you hear me, Lord? I keep calling out Your name, and yet I am still in darkness.”
Gently the Lord reminds us, “Did you not ask to see my glory? Did you not ask for my compassion and my mercy?” When we weren’t looking, that is just what He gave us.
In Exodus 33, Moses gets to “see” the glory of the Lord. In verse 18 Moses says, “Now show me Your glory.” Following his statement, the Lord says to Moses in verses 19-23 (paraphrased), “I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you…I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. BUT, you can not see my face and live. There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.”
Is Jesus not close by the Lord? Is He not at the Lord’s right hand? Is Jesus not the Rock? (I Cor 10:4) So, while we are waiting to see the glory of the Lord, we are tucked away safely near the Lord. We are placed in the cleft of the Rock…or as I like to think of it, tucked underneath the loving arms of Jesus. What safer place could there possibly be? Not only are we “in the cleft of the rock”, but we are covered by the hand of the Lord. We thought we could not see, when in reality we are being protected by the Father.
Waiting to see the glory of the Lord? Waiting for some mercy and compassion from the Heavenly Father? Stay safe in the cleft of the rock, and wait…wait for the Lord to remove His hand and show you His glory. (Wait for the Lord; be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14)
Lisa Gopp