Friday, February 10, 2012

The Rock Where Moses Stood

Many people are drawn to stand at a place where something happened in history. Tourists travel to places ranging from Ground Zero, inside the Sistine Chapel, Niagara Falls, Mount St. Helens, the Taj Mahal, or Stonehenge.

In the song, "Mary" by Take 6, a singer states that he would like to stand on the rock where Moses stood. Previously when I would hear these lyrics, I pictured being on a rock near where God divided the sea. Yet in Exodus 33, God makes mention of a rock where Moses could stand while He passes by, “21 Then the LORD said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 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.’ ” Later in 1 Samuel 6:18 scripture mentions a rock on which the ark was placed.

So I began picturing what it would be like if I stood on the rock where God passed by, or stood on the rocks that split at Golgotha (Matthew 27:51). Then I imagined standing on the rock that Jesus' tomb was cut from (Matthew 27:60) and how an angel of God rolled that huge rock back from the tomb and sat on it (Matthew 28:2).

Imagining I was standing on these rocks from scriptures reminded me of places I have stood and seen God moving in my own life. I remembered standing barefoot on the stone floor right before I was baptized. I revisited the rocks at camp where I sang with my brothers and sisters from church. I recalled my trip to Maine when I stood on the rocky edge of the ocean , got krump (type of dancing) and was moved to tears by the vastness of God as I looked out into the North Atlantic Ocean.


I didn't know it at the time, but this is a picture my best friend took right before I started dancing.

What ‘rocks’ have been a positive, pivotal point in your own life? If you have some time today, I hope you take a moment or two and revisit them.