It was a barrel in the ground with a wooden lid on it. A pipe from the mountain spring constantly poured water into it. The barrel stayed full and the overflow continued as a stream of water down the hill. There a person dipped a bucket and carried fresh water back to the house. It was a water system that never failed. It was also a bit of paradise for a little boy. There was a green frog that resided in the barrel; and I must have spent hours trying to catch it. The little fellow would jump in and swim to the bottom where it buried itself in the sediment. I’m sure he laughed because he knew that he was safely just beyond my reach.

There were a lot of “cat and mouse” games on that mountain. I was always trying to dig a snake out of a rock pile, a crawdad from the stream, or some critter from a hole in the ground. They never seemed to worry much about being caught. Like Solomon’s conies, the wise little creatures made their homes in a safe hiding place.

“You are my hiding place from every storm of life; you even keep me from getting into trouble! You surround me with songs of victory.” (Psalm 32:7) We all need such a place. The Psalmist desired to be led to the rock that was higher than him because that rock (the Lord) was his refuge. God placed Moses in the cleft of the rock, and then covered him with His hand. Jesus said that wise people build upon the rocks if they want their lives to stand strong.

The world grabs after us like a vulture with cruel and sin infected talons. We need not fear if we have made our home in the Rock. It is there that we hear the voice that longs to care for us. “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, let me see your face, let me hear your voice.” (Song of Solomon 2:14)

I have but one prayer to begin the day: “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.”

“He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand.”