…in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
    and concealed me in his quiver.

Following his birth, and dedication in the temple, Jesus lived a fairly anonymous life until He was thirty years old. That is apart from one appearance in the temple when He was 12. He pretty much had thirty hidden years, followed by three years of intensely powerful public ministry.

It sems to me, and I understand it, that many leaders in the church secretly (or not so secretly!) covet a high profile. But how many want the (potentially) years of hiddenness it may take to prepare for such a role? As I read the Bible, it strikes me that God has done some of His most strategic work in people, at His ‘university of the desert.’ To have ‘private education’/’personal tuition’ provided by the Lord Himself is a precious gift. But it has to be said that it takes patience to endure the hidden years in the wilderness.

It should also be noted that not all obscurity is preparation for prominence. Many people will be called to serve in ‘hidden valleys’ all their lives, and if it is God’s call, it is something to be embraced, not resisted.

‘To pursue obscurity is simply to resist the magnetic pull of self-promotion and platform building and ”influence” that plagues so much of the contemporary culture, including the contemporary Christian culture…the better part of righteousness lies, as our Lord reminded us, precisely in its hiddenness and secrecy before our heavenly Father…’ R. Lucas Stamps.