I heard the tires scream and immediately halt, the car door slam, followed by sloppy fumbling at the front door knob. My heart rushed and my mind went wild. Instantly, I remembered a time past, when I landed in the hospital with dozens of stitches from another drunken, drug-induced rampage. For years I had coped with fear because of being repeatedly abused by this angry man who is now my ex-husband.

What will happen next? I had no choice but to cry out with every bit of strength I could muster up, “Lord Jesus, help me!” My mind raced and stopped at a page in Exodus:

Exodus 33:22: “And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:”

“I need this NOW, Lord Jesus. I need these words to come alive and hide me,” I silently prayed with desperation as this enraged man was coming for me. As soon as I finished those lines, he walked right past me as if I were invisible. Was I? Did God blind him, or did I momentarily disappear? God knows – all I know is that I was spared from being the target of his anger.

I then asked the Lord to cause him to pass out, and yes, he headed for the couch and didn’t awaken until morning. Gratitude flooded my heart as I released my fears unto the Lord. God did it again, just like He did with Moses at the rock. Like Jonah, I exclaimed, “I cried . . . and He heard me.”

Jonah 2:2, “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me!”

God had suddenly intervened in my situation and protected me. In the middle of my crisis, God created a cleft in the Rock of Jesus, to literally hide me from view; a split in the rock that I could hide in!

The definition of cleft: noun. 1. A space or opening made by or as if by splitting. 2. From an unused root meaning to take refuge.

Jesus had made a hiding place for me.

I will never be able to sing the old hymn, Rock of Ages, without praising the Lord for my encounter with harm, and His salvation.

“Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.”

Christ is the Solid Rock, and He made a split, a “cleft” in the rock, a hiding place for me.

Dear Reader, God will do the same for you. Just cry out to Him in your duress. God is faithful. Christ is our Hiding Place, our Solid Rock, and will make a split (a “cleft”) in the rock to hide you in.

Today, I am blessed with a wonderful, godly husband whom the Lord has used to bring much healing into my life.