Then the Lord said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 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. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back, but my face must not be see" Exodus 33:21-23.
As I reflect on month 1 debrief in Granada, Nicaragua last week I am hit with the profound reality of what took place between me and the Lord in that place. I spent 3 days in the dark cleft of the rock while His hand covered me and I felt the trembling of His glory passing by.
During debrief I was under serious spiritual attack by the enemy, such a spirit of oppression was resting upon me; a bitterness I had never known nor could I acknowledge the source rested prominently on me all week. I was experiencing a 'dark night of the soul' if you will. I could not pinpoint what was causing this disconnect, nor could I seem to shake it.
All week I witnessed God bringing such freedom to my entire squad, miraculous restoration, complete renewal in the name of Jesus; yet my eyes remained darkened and my heart veiled to the things of the Spirit. Satan was fighting very strongly against the healing and freedom the Lord was calling me to walk into. He knew that if he could keep me in this darkness, this shame, these chains, that he could still retain a smidge of control over my effectiveness for the Kingdom. My flesh was fighting so strongly against my spirit to hold on to those chains. My flesh was doubting the Spirits movement, the Lords anointing, God's power.
Night 3 of 'chain breaking' rolled around and I decided to stop living in defeat and allowing Satan to keep holding me in the darkness and out of the light of the Glory. Even though my flesh was still very hesitant and doubtul, to say the least, I stood in agreement with the truth of God, "It is for freedom I have set you free. Stand firm then and do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" Galatians 5:1.
I stood in front of my squad, the army of the Lord, and declared publicly to Satan that he has no authority over me and I will fight to see the Glory of my Lord! I let the chains fall at the feet of my Jesus that night and since then I have looked back and seen that the Glory of the Lord was passing by me in my darkness on His way to do a new thing!
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" 2 Corinthians 3:17-18.
When we arrived at our ministry site last Saturday in Palacaguna Nicaragua, the Lord unveiled my eyes to what He had just done at debreif. During that entire time in darkness, the Glory was passing by! How profound this truth is to me! Like the Lord did with Moses in Exodus, He put me in the cleft of the rock (darkness) and covered me with His hand so that the Glory could pass by. Only after the Glory had passed did He remove His hand and allow me to look back and see His back, His Glory!
"It is in the dark that God is passing by. Our lives shake not because God has abandoned us, but the exact opposite: GOD IS PASSING BY. God is in the tremors. Dark is the holiest ground, the Glory passing by. In the blackest God is closest, at work, forging His perfect and right will…Then He will remove His hand. Then we will look. Then we will look back and see His back." Ann Voskamp
IT IS IN THE DARK THAT THE GLORY IS PASSING BY!
How profound! How humbling! How earth shattering is the truth of our God!
He never leaves us in the dark, or puts us there, just to experience the tremors that the darkness brings. He puts us in the dark (the cleft of the rock) and protects us (covers us with His hand) the whole time we are there, so that the Glory can pass by and shake up our lives on His way to doing a new thing! We get to see His Glory, we get to experience the passing by of our Lord!
DARK IS THE HOLIEST GROUND!
Look back, after He has removed His hand, and you will see the Glory!
