Exodus 33:18 Moses said, “I pray thee, show me thy glory.” 19 And he[the Lord] said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live.”
“Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee”
21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand upon the rock; 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; 23 then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
The old hymn, Rock of Ages, is what inspired my painting. God chose to reveal the truth of His moral code, written from His heart on a surface physically made by His own hand. Can you imagine the Lord of all Creation busily speaking every perfect thing into reality; and yet purposefully carving broken fissures and clefts into that solid, immovable mass of rock and calling it “good?”
We don’t have those stone tablets but we still have the ten truths for life that were on them. Can you imagine the permanence of God’s message as much more than two [or four] lost tablets but a message from the stone itself? Those Words have never been lost! Instead they have become a good and perfect place to hide as the Lord of all Creation passes by to reveal Himself amid the broken fissures and clefts. It’s a very different solid, permanent and immovable place of safety from which to witness the Glory we cannot bear to see — THE Rock.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
Isaiah 26:4
Read and Ponder - Faith in Daily Life 