Susan gave me a framed photograph and a card on Valentine’s Day. The picture is of a white-haired man with hands in his pockets standing on a huge rock looking out into the ocean. It looks as if he is expecting to find something he has been searching for.
I wasn’t aware someone took my picture, but I know where it was taken. I was standing at the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa.
The card contained a hand-written Scripture reference and word of encouragement that brought tears to my eyes. “Exodus 33:21 – May you always stand on the rock!” Where else is there to stand? I’ve lived long enough to know that everything else this world has to offer is shifting sand. There is only one true Rock and if we stand there we can look into the distance with joyful expectation.
The Scripture reference comes from the life of Moses. For quite some time this servant of the Lord had experienced the provision and power of an almighty God. He had witnessed the plagues, he had walked through the Red Sea on dry land, he had received bread from Heaven and water from a rock. But Moses was looking for more. Perhaps the longer we walk with God the more we will desire Him. The mature pilgrims learn to pray as Moses did: “Teach me your ways so I may know you.” Perhaps one day we’ll come to the place Paul reached – realizing there was only one thing that mattered. “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (see Philippians 3:7-16)
“Show me your glory,” Moses prayed. What does the Father do with such a prayer? Did Moses not know he would die if he looked into the face of God? This is where Exodus 33:21 is found. These instructions played out in the physical for Moses, but they hold no less meaning for us. “And the Lord said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.’”
Our Rock provided the water for Moses in the desert. Our Rock is the Living Bread from Heaven. In our Rock there is Good Hope.
“They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” I Corinthians 10:3-4
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” John 6:51