Alicia Britt Chole, in her book, anonymous, reminds her readers that while only 10% of an iceberg is visible, as much as 90% of the iceberg remains under water, unseen, and is the portion of the iceberg that makes it virtually indestructible. Chole goes on to compare the most influential Life in all of history to that of an iceberg, Jesus. As she states, ninety percent of Jesus’ earthly life was spent in obscurity, while ten percent was spent in the public eye. Yet, all of His life was, and still is, absolutely indestructible. Jesus’ “invisible or hidden” years were equally as important to His “visible or unhidden” years. It is often within the invisible and hidden places of lives where God is able to birth spiritual greatness.
In Hebrews 11 we see much of Moses’ early life. Many of the decisions that were made for Moses’ life, by his parents, and by himself in early adulthood, were done out of obedient faithfulness of Moses’ parents and Moses, himself, to God. These decisions were made in obscurity and were the building blocks that ultimately led to Moses’ public ministry and great leadership of God’s people. Moses’ parent and Moses knew that every decision they made had to be for God and ultimately about God.
The freedom we have in Christ has nothing to do with our earthly status, the comforts of this world, or really about ourselves. Rather, much like Moses and his parents, our freedom in Christ should be about our obedient choice to walk by faith with Jesus and not to align with this world and all of the world’s securities. We need to fixate our hearts and lives on what is eternal, and that is Jesus, not on what is fleeting and temporal, and that is this world. Our freedom in Christ is sustained by our faith in Christ. We need to value Jesus above all else and thus our obedience, much like Moses, allows God to reveal His power in and through us, as He sees fit, and as He need it to work for His glory.
Hebrews 11:23-28 (NLT)
23 It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.
24 It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. 27 It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. 28 It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.
Prayer: Jesus, thank You for the hidden seasons of our lives. Please forgive us for being impatient during these times. Holy Spirit, please strengthen our obedience during the hidden seasons so that our faith can be sharpened and we can grow closer to You. We want to grow in Your wisdom so that we value eternity over this temporal realm called earth. May our hidden and unhidden places bring You eternal glory, Jesus. We ask all of this in Your Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.