character development

Escaping Obscurity?

1 Comment

Joseph, the boy dreamer, certainly spent his years in obscurity.  It seemed that just when he thought God was lifting him up something else would happen!

“Only keep me in mind when it goes will with you, and please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house.”

 Yet the cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. (Genesis 40:14, 23)

Oh how we try to escape it!  But Joseph was sovereignly placed in obscurity.  He was apparently a forgotten man.  The cupbearer couldn’t get him out one day early.  God had shut him in.  God was doing a permanent work in Joseph before Joseph could do a permanent or prominent work in Egypt!

I have sometimes identified with Joseph.  Have you? It is so hard to really surrender our future to God’s hands.  Somehow, it seems, we are afraid that unless we push the agenda, we will miss our day in the sun and end up  stuck in Obscureville!  In his insightful book, Rethinking the Successful Church, Samuel Rima touches on this fear:

It is our fear of losing out and getting stuck in some invisible ministry post that often keeps us from recklessly entrusting our life to God.

While the focus of Rima’s words is people in ministry, this truth relates to all: whether in ministry, business, education, or marriage.  Could it be that much of the unrest and discontentment in your current assignment is really an indicator that you do not trust God to be good to you?  We are afraid God will not look out for our best interests and so we feel compelled to take matters into our own hands.  We then request that someone “get me out of here!”

Gideon

Gideon was definitely not a prominent fellow!  He was living in obscurity, threshing grain in a wine-press (hidden) when the Lord called him.  His family was the least in Manasseh and he was the youngest of all his brothers.  The Lord answered all his questions and fears with, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” (Judges 6:16)

We often only look at the successes and exploits of famous biblical characters.  But in doing so we may fail to respect the years of obscurity that were often behind these significant men and women of God.  I think A.B. Simpson captures this thought very well in Seeing the Invisible:

It was from the wilderness of Gilead that Elijah came to startle the centuries with his bold and mighty voice; it was from the deserts of Arabia that Paul returned to give the Gentile nations the gospel; it was from the quiet years of Nazareth and the carpenter’s bench that Jesus went forth to the ministry from which all other ministries flow; and still God teaches His servants, in the school of silence, separation and communion with Himself, the secret of their life work.  

There are things that can only be learned in the dark.  Obscurity is one of God’s favorite tools in developing His choicest saints.  Some are later brought out into prominent roles in this life.  Others await their day in the light…in the age to come.

 

Obscurity and Permanence

1 Comment

The prayer of Moses, the man of God:

 “Let Your work appear to Your servants and Your majesty to their children.  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, give permanence to the work of our hands.” (Psalm 90:16-17, emph. mine)

 In another place the Psalmist said it like this: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.”  Moses, in his prayer, seemed to understand that it would take a special grace from God if there was to be a permanent work established.

People who cannot bear the weight of obscurity will often not be able to build permanent works.  They may inherit a prominent work without facing obscurity.  They might be able to promote and market a work into prominence without facing obscurity.  But permanence is an entirely different issue.

One important proof of the quality of a person’s life and work is finally seen in its permanence.   Does it stand the test of time?  Is it more than a flash in the pan?  Do succeeding generations benefit from it?  God often uses obscurity to prepare the person who will build a work of permanence.  This principle can be seen through out the Bible and through the annals of history as well.

Moses

Moses understood this.  At forty he thought he was ready to lead!  But God had plans for him that involved obscurity – forty years of it!  Being hidden in the Midianite wilderness definitely meets the definition of obscurity!

Moses wrote a large portion of the Old Testament.  We learn a lot about his first forty years and his last forty years in the Bible.  The middle forty, however, are still veiled in obscurity!  There were things, said the Apostle Paul, that he saw while caught up into the third heaven, that he was not given permission to tell.  Was this the case with Moses’ missing forty years?  I don’t think so! 

I think Moses was silent regarding those forty years because they were humble years.  Nothing fantastic happened.  Just life.  Just daily struggles and labor.  Just raising kids and doing an honest day’s work tending sheep.  There may have even been a “death to the vision”.  Perhaps he felt he had missed his chance for leadership in Egypt.  By killing the Egyptian, perhaps he had disqualified himself from a significant role?

God took His time with Moses during those years of obscurity.  When the time was right God appeared to Him in the burning bush and then the hidden man became an international figure.  Because he had embraced obscurity he could be trusted in a much more public role…or not.  That was up to God and was not something Moses had to make happen.

Next time we’ll look at more Biblical examples of how God uses obscurity to develop His choicest saints.