“Finding him in the Clefts of the Rock”
Merry Friday by Parris Bailey-“O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.” Song of Solomon 2:14
There is nothing better to have at our disposal than a Rock to run to. Christ always provides a way of escape in the storms of life. He compares us to the dove, who is a creature innocent and harmless, beautiful, cleanly, and chaste; sociable and fruitful which mates for life. “The Spirit descended like a dove on Christ, and so He does on all Christians, making them of a meek and quiet spirit. She is Christ’s dove, for He owns her and delights in her; she can find no rest but in Him and His ark, and therefore to Him, as her Noah, she returns.” (Simpson) Christ becomes our Rock in the good times and bad. We need to come to a place that there is no other refuge outside of Christ. He hides us in the secret places of the stairs. Jacob saw a ladder ascending and descending from heaven calling it God’s place. David spent years hiding out in the rocks and it is there he wrote many of the Psalms where he heard the voice of God in those secret places. Ps.94:22 “But the LORD is my defense; and my God is the rock of my refuge.”
Safety and refreshment comes when we learn to step out of the traffic. “And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” Is. 32:2 When we hide ourselves in the clefts of the rock we enter the unseen world of the Holy Spirit. We see things under the light of the His word and His presence. His still small voice speaks through the wind and the storms without. A.B. Simpson said, “And when we find Him we must give Him the inmost chamber, the fondest love, the place that the dearest has held. It is when the sacrifice of the tenderest of earthly ties has been fully made that Christ becomes our All in All, and every earthly tie becomes more sacred and more true. The spirit of self-sacrifice is the secret of the truest happiness.” We will find Christ in the least expected places, in the low places. In the secret he begs to let go of all that entangles us so that He can clothe us in His beauty alone.
Hebrews 13:13 “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” Once you leave the camp of the this world and place yourself in the clefts of the rock, a whole new city emerges, it is this city that we have been born for.