I hope everyone is safe and healthy during this crazy time. I'm writing this today to encourage you and your faith, and speak life into our societal situation right now. I've debated calling this post "Stuck between a Rock & a Hard Place" or "The Quarry in the Quarantine" as they're very fitting as to what is discussed here today, so I'm calling it both.
Anyways, lots of us are stuck between a rock and a hard place, stuck between the situations of life, stuck in the confines of our home, stuck in a quarry (see picture below) admist the quarantine for COVID 19.
Imagine being stuck in that quarry and imagine needing a ladder to get out of it... that is at each level you're stuck. Sure, you could walk around each path and meander your way around that quarry of a maze that is the situation one is stuck in, or you could grab a ladder and meander your way around the situation you're stuck in, passing through each level of the upward maze. One method is potentially more efficient and the other is more time consuming in how to get out of that quarry.
I'm reminded by the ol' infamous Simpson's Movie and the previews of that movie where Homer Simpson was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The situation of what Homer was strapped to kept going back and forth between the rock and "A Hard Place." Thus, the irony of that picture as Homer could not get out of the situation he was in -- "DOH!"
My question today: who is stuck in a corner? Are you stuck between a rock AND a hard place? That's most definitely the state of our country and greater society that it seems to be in: stuck in a corner, stuck in between a place where answers don't come easy, stuck between a place where the glory of God needs to pass by to CLEAR up what is the situation in front of them/us.
I read through this passage in Exodus where Moses was STUCK between a ROCK and a HARD place. The context of this passage had Moses needing the glory of God to PASS by him and His presence to lead him through what God had in front of him.
Moses' Intercession (ESV)
12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he 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.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on 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 context of this story starts with the title in Exodus 23:12 as Moses most definitely needed God's intercession in his ability to lead the Israelites. The title "Moses's Intercession" in this English Standard Version of the Bible suggests that Moses was in a vulnerable position where he needed deliverance. The context of this story has
Moses needing the glory of God to pass by him and His presence to lead him through what God had in front of him. The thing about Moses is that he had already had extensive experience in walking with God that this experience would be nothing new... that to encounter God would be nothing new... but this time it was a different situation. There was a request in a situation where Moses needed to ask for God's glory to pass by him in His time of need. It was a plea in desperation for an answered prayer.
I mean Moses, the dude this passage centers on, literally said "Please show me your glory..." as if he was begging God to show him mercy and His sovereign hand in a time of great need over his ability to lead the people. God's glory and Hand were the hope and bedrock that he needed to see when he was trapped between the rock and hard place that God then placed him, metaphorically, in! He says to Moses: "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock" referring to the place where will he will stand upon after this situation rolls over (the word you shall stand on the rock...) referring to the ability that God will get him out of the quarry in the quarantine situation that he is in, but, in the near future. Now, if we look deeper at this passage, God placed Moses in between a ROCK (a cleft) and a HARD PLACE and THEN passed by. It was between a rock and a hard place that
Moses would have to trust that he would see God's hand later on. So, God shares with Moses what he will stand upon, in the future, but then puts him in between the rock that he "shall stand upon." It's symbolic of the helplessness of this situation that Moses is in, that he surely can't get out of this rock in a hard place situation he is in without the glory and very hand of God to propel him out of it. I wish I could meme that photo of the cleft in the rock, drawing Moses in stick figure form to really relate this situation for all of us further.
So, God places Moses in between a rock and a hard place (God placed a mandatory social distancing upon Moses right there for such a time as that). God passes by, and then Moses COULD see how God moved in his life and delivered.
Psalm 40:
1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
Same situation here with David... He waits patiently for God to hear his cries and his need for God. God comes through in a situation and draws David up from the pit "of destruction" to place him upon a rock just like Moses would be standing on a rock triumphant over his vulnerable position.
Joseph was thrown into a pit by his own brothers in the book of Genesis then taken out of it and sold into slavery. Through out his process, God gave immense favor to Joseph in his slavery endeavors and brought him into powerful positions of influence like becoming the second most powerful man in Egypt and right hand man to the Pharoah. But he was stuck in a pit at different points in his journey to becoming the person God was calling Joseph to be.
Because it was in the crushing of the confines of a jail cell, where social distancing is mandatory 365 - 24/7, where Nelson Mandela, the once great president of South Africa who led that country through apartheid, read hundreds of books that he would go onto credit as his university behind bars, a place where he was effectively quarantined. In other words, perhaps, his greatest personal growth took place there. After around 25+ years in jail, he would go on to lead his country through unparalleled times during the apartheid. To bring peace and justice to his people.
Anyways, there are quite a few Biblical examples of people being in a pit or a jail cell, a place of mandatory quarantine for all prisoners to be stuck in a cell. A place that specializes in effective social distancing. Is it a coincidence that Paul was in a jail cell when he started worshipping with Silas before the glory of God rained through in a moment of deliverance?
The Philippian Jailer Converted - ESV
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
But they were in a place that is symbolical of a rock and a hard place in jail cell form. They were in between a concrete space and some iron bars before God set their feet upon a rock and decided to pass by with an earthquake in their quarantine to release them from their situation. He came through and cracked the jail cell... flexing His sovereign Hand of Glory (you flex bro?). He came through between the rock and a hard place... a situation that didn't look like they were ever gonna' get out of it.
So, back to that example above of GETTING OUT OF THE QUARRY in the QUARANTINE... we need to pray... Prayer is our ladder and our direct line of communication to the Father to fight for us on our behalf. Pray for the virus cure, prayer for businesses, prayer for our government, prayer for our leaders (wisdom, discernment, ability to lead and inspire HOPE + PASSION + NATIONALISM in those they're serving).
How may it look for our country and world regarding seeing the glory of God pass through? It could like speedy tests getting back test results in under an hour instead of 2-3 days. It could look like an innovative cure that would've taken a year and a half normally to develop to be discovered very quickly. It could look like peace in our supply chains and the cohesive strategic organization of resources from a business perspective. It could look like doctors and nurses having supernatural energy to make it through and serve mass amounts of people. It could look like strength and wisdom and leadership for our leaders to lead with absolute poise and resiliency in this time as they make very difficult decisions.
Because Moses never got to see God's front hand passing by him in that situation... it was hidden in obscurity. It wasn't until after He passed through that THEN Moses could see God's back hand as to what He just did. However, it is time to TRUST/HAVE FAITH that God may show His "back hand" as He may pass THROUGH this situation, too.
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