Welcome to Week 26 of A 2020 Prayer Life!
What follows is a series of daily meditations and exercises to help us develop our individual prayer lives. This represents a one-day-at-a-time process. Don't short-circuit the process by reading ahead. Simply read and do each day what is offered for that day.
What follows is a series of daily meditations and exercises to help us develop our individual prayer lives. This represents a one-day-at-a-time process. Don't short-circuit the process by reading ahead. Simply read and do each day what is offered for that day.
June 24
Moses prayed that God would show him His glory. The Lord's response to Moses' request was this: "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live! ...Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by." (Exodus 33:20-22 NASB)
In that story from Exodus, the rock was not the Lord. Rather, a cleft in the rock was the safe place where Moses was protected from the fullness of the glory of the Lord. But in the 18th-century, Augustus Toplady added a new insight into that rock.
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me," he wrote, "Let me hide myself in Thee." Now the Rock is the Lord. And, specifically, we discover that Toplady envisions the Rock as Jesus.
"Let the water and the blood, from Thy wounded side which flowed," he writes, recalling the spear that was thrust into Jesus' side on the cross, "be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure."
Now the cleft in the rock, where Moses was protected, becomes the atoning wounds of Christ, which save us.
Toplady goes on to acknowledge that no works or sorrow or resources of his are sufficient to save him. Rather, "Thou must save, and Thou alone."
During your prayer time, meditate first on Moses' experience.
Then meditate on Toplady's words and imagery. Think of Christ as the Rock. And, as you do, ponder "cleft for me."
Finally, make "Thou must save, and Thou alone" your prayer.
In that story from Exodus, the rock was not the Lord. Rather, a cleft in the rock was the safe place where Moses was protected from the fullness of the glory of the Lord. But in the 18th-century, Augustus Toplady added a new insight into that rock.
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me," he wrote, "Let me hide myself in Thee." Now the Rock is the Lord. And, specifically, we discover that Toplady envisions the Rock as Jesus.
"Let the water and the blood, from Thy wounded side which flowed," he writes, recalling the spear that was thrust into Jesus' side on the cross, "be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure."
Now the cleft in the rock, where Moses was protected, becomes the atoning wounds of Christ, which save us.
Toplady goes on to acknowledge that no works or sorrow or resources of his are sufficient to save him. Rather, "Thou must save, and Thou alone."
During your prayer time, meditate first on Moses' experience.
Then meditate on Toplady's words and imagery. Think of Christ as the Rock. And, as you do, ponder "cleft for me."
Finally, make "Thou must save, and Thou alone" your prayer.
June 25
At the conclusion of his poem about the "Rock of Ages," Augustus Toplady anticipates the day when his earthly life comes to an end. He writes, "While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in death, when I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on Thy judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee."
Close your eyes for several moments in order to picture what Toplady is describing in this verse.
The verse is a prayer -- i.e., the words are addressed to God. Having climbed into the scene that Toplady described, make the verse your prayer, the words you say to the Lord.
Finally, talk to the Lord about this phrase: "let me hide myself in Thee." Talk to Him about what that prayer means in life, and talk to Him about what it means in death.
Close your eyes for several moments in order to picture what Toplady is describing in this verse.
The verse is a prayer -- i.e., the words are addressed to God. Having climbed into the scene that Toplady described, make the verse your prayer, the words you say to the Lord.
Finally, talk to the Lord about this phrase: "let me hide myself in Thee." Talk to Him about what that prayer means in life, and talk to Him about what it means in death.
June 26
For two weeks, we had been considering "rock" as an important biblical metaphor for God. This week, however, we broke new ground. Now it is not merely the concept of rock, in general, but a specific, actual rock that the hymn writer used as a metaphor for Christ.
Today we turn to another specific, real rock that eventually became a metaphor for Christ. First, we turn our attention to the story of that rock itself.
In the story of a children of Israel journeying across the desert from Egypt to the Promised Land, there is a moment where they have a need for water in a place where there is no water to be found. On that occasion, we read this:
"The LORD answered Moses, 'Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.' So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel." (Exodus 17:5-6 NIV)
That important episode is remembered and celebrated by the people of God throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Deuteronomy 8:15, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalm 105:41, Isaiah 48:21).
For the present, we are not thinking of the rock as the Lord or a metaphor for the Lord, but simply as an instrument that the Lord used. As such, in your prayer time, talk to Him about the rock in that story. Ask Him the questions below, and jot down your reflections as you pray.
Lord, what does Your provision in that setting tell me about You?
Lord, what does Your use of a rock in that setting tell me about You?
Lord, what does that story of that rock mean for me in my own daily life?
Today we turn to another specific, real rock that eventually became a metaphor for Christ. First, we turn our attention to the story of that rock itself.
In the story of a children of Israel journeying across the desert from Egypt to the Promised Land, there is a moment where they have a need for water in a place where there is no water to be found. On that occasion, we read this:
"The LORD answered Moses, 'Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.' So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel." (Exodus 17:5-6 NIV)
That important episode is remembered and celebrated by the people of God throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Deuteronomy 8:15, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalm 105:41, Isaiah 48:21).
For the present, we are not thinking of the rock as the Lord or a metaphor for the Lord, but simply as an instrument that the Lord used. As such, in your prayer time, talk to Him about the rock in that story. Ask Him the questions below, and jot down your reflections as you pray.
Lord, what does Your provision in that setting tell me about You?
Lord, what does Your use of a rock in that setting tell me about You?
Lord, what does that story of that rock mean for me in my own daily life?
June 27
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul recalls the familiar water-from-the-rock event from the Old Testament, and he writes this about it in his first letter to the Corinthians:
"Our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 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." (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 NIV)
(Paul, incidentally, is reflecting a later rabbinic tradition that imagined that the Lord's miraculous provision of water from the rock was not a one-time event but a constant supply. And so the speculation was that the rock accompanied the people.)
In your prayer time, refer back to your reflections from yesterday. If, as Paul says, "that rock was Christ," how does that apply to the things you discovered yesterday? What does that reveal about the Lord? About His provisions? About your daily life?
"Our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 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." (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 NIV)
(Paul, incidentally, is reflecting a later rabbinic tradition that imagined that the Lord's miraculous provision of water from the rock was not a one-time event but a constant supply. And so the speculation was that the rock accompanied the people.)
In your prayer time, refer back to your reflections from yesterday. If, as Paul says, "that rock was Christ," how does that apply to the things you discovered yesterday? What does that reveal about the Lord? About His provisions? About your daily life?
June 28
"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." (1 Corinthians 10:4 NIV)
In your prayer time, talk to the Lord about Paul's connection between Christ and that rock from the Old Testament story.
Lord, what does the Old Testament story tell me about Christ? What is the significance of Him being a life-giving provision? Of Him being a provision in the setting of the wilderness? Of Him being a rock?
In your prayer time, talk to the Lord about Paul's connection between Christ and that rock from the Old Testament story.
Lord, what does the Old Testament story tell me about Christ? What is the significance of Him being a life-giving provision? Of Him being a provision in the setting of the wilderness? Of Him being a rock?
June 29
"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." (1 Corinthians 10:4 NIV)
In your prayer time, talk more with the Lord about the connection Paul makes between Christ and that rock from the Old Testament story.
Lord, how does the tradition about the rock accompanying the Israelites inform my understanding of Christ? What did Paul mean for that story to say to the people of 1st-century Corinth? How does that story about Israel in Exodus apply to my 21st-century life as a Christian?
In your prayer time, talk more with the Lord about the connection Paul makes between Christ and that rock from the Old Testament story.
Lord, how does the tradition about the rock accompanying the Israelites inform my understanding of Christ? What did Paul mean for that story to say to the people of 1st-century Corinth? How does that story about Israel in Exodus apply to my 21st-century life as a Christian?
June 30
As we conclude Week 26, we turn our attention to a verse from a hymn by Fanny Crosby. She wrote:
"All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread;
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see."
Fanny Crosby is clearly borrowing from both the original story in Exodus and Paul's application of it in 1 Corinthians. In your prayer time, meditate on her words. Make them your own testimony and praise. Talk to the Lord about your thirsty soul, about His "gushing" provision, and about Him as your Rock.
"All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread;
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see."
Fanny Crosby is clearly borrowing from both the original story in Exodus and Paul's application of it in 1 Corinthians. In your prayer time, meditate on her words. Make them your own testimony and praise. Talk to the Lord about your thirsty soul, about His "gushing" provision, and about Him as your Rock.