By TIMOTHY L. MELTON, PASTOR
(Transcribed by Myra D. Colgate)
Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
Read Exodus 33:11-23; Psalm 61:1-8; Proverbs 30:24-26.
Have you ever been caught between a rock and a hard place? Moses certainly was. With some saying there could have been over 3,000,000 people to lead out of Egypt, to make a journey from slavery to their own new land. Having to go through a desert and wilderness to a “Promised Land” they had never seen, it must have seemed almost an impossible journey. However, the Lord told Moses, he had found “grace in My sight”, since Moses had met with the Lord face-to-face, as a friend, and asked Him to “Show me Thy Glory,” so Moses would know God would go with them.
God answered him, “I will do what you have said, for I know thee by name. All my Goodness will pass before thee. By Me is a place where you will stand in the cleft of the Rock with My hand covering you and you shall see the hinderparts of My Glory and I will call out My Name, but you may not behold My Face.”
After over 400 years of hard slavery in Egypt, the Mountain of Sinai was a shock to these people as it shook and with its loud thunderings and lightnings for over 40 days. The people began thinking Moses, who had climbed up there was dead, and so, to these people raised in idol worshipping Egypt, sin reared its ugly head in their camp. They thought to have a golden calf made, and to follow it as the Egyptians did.
In today’s world-like view, most would think, a new car, a new house built on a large property, building a bank account, etc., would show us His Glory.
Yet, God wants us to get to the place where we realize we need Jesus, and we need more of Him. We need a place where we would consider God as the Treasure of our life, that God might say, “He’s a man after My own Heart, or we could say that He is the very Breath in my body.”
God has said, “Seek you first the Kingdom…as that’s the man who is looking for Who I Am, who is not looking for things, but is seeking Me…He is the good treasure. God is everything to him.
We can see that being hidden in the cleft of the Rock is being found between a Rock and a hard place. It was a tough place for Moses. Moses had to put all his trust in God. God told him, “He would cover him with His hand.” It is the hard place that hurts, but know it is the Rock that will keep one when there’s no way out. We never have to find a way out, for God can still find a way out for those who will trust Him to do so.
God may literally bring one to a place where no one else can help us. He may do this just to show a person that He is God and there is no one else who can help, especially if we are looking to Him for a miracle. Remember, a miracle of God isn’t needed until it’s the Rock that makes the difference.
When David needed a miracle, he wrote “lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.” Set my foot on something solid. Stabilize me there. Wait until you need to soar above like on the wings of an eagle. Catch the solar winds so you can float above to see what’s up ahead, even a place where there’s “a mighty rushing wind”.
Yes, there is a place a Christian can go. It’s a place where He’s still God. Don’t just leave the Church, it’s a place where you don’t have to seek for shelter when it rains or pours for He is a strong tower made of the Rock, our Cornerstone, who has never lost a battle or a war. He did not lose His life; He gave up His life. No one could take His life. It wasn’t His time.
There are times we might have thought we were lost, or maybe things really looked bad for remaining in a job, but it actually was meant to be a blessing with a better salary awaiting. Maybe it was meant for us to grow stronger, so we could survive.
