When God Hides His Generals

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5)

I want us to look at God contrary to what our generation accepts as true and necessary.

Many believe that God is in the business of parading His servants. Like we behave in social media, we think that God’s favorite servant is the one with most likes. We think a good servant is the most prolific, active and visible. As such, ministers spend most of their time looking for visibility forums, from churches to corporate events, instead of building their spiritual stature.

Do you realize when you read the Bible that God only exposes His generals when it is necessary? Do you realize that the rest of the time they are hidden? Do you realize that God shapes His servants in secret?

Why does He do that?

The public realm is a dangerous place to train. The best thing the public realm does is test the training.

The army is never trained on the battlefield.

Do you realize that Moses was hidden in the wilderness for forty years before he was given the assignment? And we are not even touching the other forty he was hidden in the palace. And do you realize that most of the rest of the active time was spent in God’s presence, be it on the mount or in the tabernacle?

But the clearest indication of this is Elijah.

After proclaiming the devastating drought, God hides His servant.

Why do I say that?

He was sent to a foreign city. It couldn’t have been an obscure village because he recognized the name when God spoke. He was not going like Abraham (to a land I will show you).

I am travelled some and know that towns do not become famous beyond their borders by fluke. Very few outside East Africa know Kenyan towns beyond Nairobi, Mombasa and probably Malindi for tourists. Having ministered in a few foreign countries, and travelled quite a bit in the process, I have the recollection of very few towns outside the ones I ministered in.

Zarephath must therefore have been a famous town, most likely a big one.

How does Elijah stay there for about three years without anyone knowing he was there?

How was he able to remain hidden even after raising the dead, let alone keeping a hopeless family well nourished? And I doubt those were the only miracles he performed.

God hid him.

He hid him as He hid David to train him with the sheep, or as He hid him when Saul wanted to kill him.

God is not the God of the limelight. Though He created the light, He does not need the light to shine.

The most precious minerals are hidden way below the surface.

Ministers do not need publicity to thrive. They need the private place to be hardened enough for the public sphere.

John the Baptist was constrained to the desert until God’s right time. Then he was exposed for a short time. And in that short time he was killed.

As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. (1Kings 18:10)

Do not for one moment think that Ahab was looking for Elijah to reward him. He actually wanted to kill him. That was the reason God hid him.

Isn’t it amazing that John was hid for so long just to be killed shortly after his was exposure? Isn’t it amazing that Elijah was so powerful as a prophet, yet we only have just short snippets of his ministry? And he only appeared when he was sent.

God hides His servants. He is not in the business of parading them so that they can amass likes on social media, or anywhere else for that matter.

My observation is that the limelight is the cause of the fall and emasculation of most ministers. The limelight attracts all eyes on you, even the eyes of your enemies. Many times, wrong motives can be planted on you due to that publicity.

Now he does not speak to us. He has become proud. He despises us.

These are some statements you hear from the friends of those on the limelight. Yet for some you will find that their hearts are still in the right place. It is the demands of the limelight that make one unavailable. Yet many times what makes one unavailable is the baggage (read company) one picks (or that picks him) because of the limelight.

For a minister, the limelight is taken as a taunt to the enemy of souls. He therefore will release the most nefarious of his arsenal to bring you down.

You realize Samson became a target to the Philistines when the spirit started moving in his life. Then they were able to see his weakness with women, and he became toast.

It is as a king that Saul sinned. David sinned at his peak.

God exposes his army at the battlefield because He has prepared them in the secret place. And He seeks to hide them after a battle.

Why is it that some people even in the palace could not recognize Elijah (2 Kings 1)? How come the noble woman perceived and not knew that Elisha was a man of God yet he was the prophet to at least three kings? Why did the guy Jesus heal at the pool not know who it was that healed him? Why did the captain not know who Paul was when he rescued him at Jerusalem?

God does not parade his minister. He gives him an assignment.

It is the assignment that God parades.

So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. (Luke 17:10)

But the limelight exposes the servant and not the assignment, meaning that the glory diverts from God to the servant. Yet God says this

For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: (Exodus 34:14)

God does not share His glory with another, even if that another is His servant.

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8)

The reason He hides His servants is to protect them from themselves and everything else that exposing a servant attracts, from intense temptations to pride and entitlement.

The saddest part is that nowadays we think the exposure of a minister to publicity is a great plus to their ministry. How many churches treat it as an exceptional bonus when they expose a gifted child to the masses? Yet the same child does not know anything about life. Let me confess that I have fallen prey to that folly a number of times and am grateful to God that He clipped those attempts at their bud. It is as I look back that I agree that God did the best thing for me when He hid me from the limelight or destroyed my limelight.

Many will tell you the dangers popularity brought to them. The limelight is a very delicate position to occupy. And it is even worse for the Christian minister because we have an enemy who will take advantage of the limelight to arouse the base cravings for his purpose.

Let me give a small example of something that has happened to me a number of times.

As you already know I give the books I write at no cost where God leads or opens doors. The one I have reprinted many times is the discipleship book ‘Fruit that Lasts’. It therefore goes without say that I do not know the places and people most of the books go to.

One day I met a person who almost fell to the ground exclaiming,

‘My prayers have been answered. How I have been praying to see you!’

They had been using the discipleship book and as he told me the study had completely transformed the group. Yet they had never seen me. That was the reason for that prayer. He had been praying to see me to thank me for the books.

How would you feel?

It is very easy to see yourself beyond the assignment and the Lord of the same. And pride comes very naturally in such instances. Of course the limelight makes people think of you as more than a person, superhuman (or super anointed for those with spiritual jargon) if I may say it.

But that is the smaller problem. The real one is that you start believing because of the way they treat you. You therefore slowly start treating yourself and others with that attitude.

As an example, how many worship leaders (musicians is the right word) sit through a sermon? Don’t they move out after they sing only to come back just before the invitation song. Why? They do not think they need a sermon. Their life has too much anointing to defile it with dull sermons. And to date I still wonder how someone can play instruments when praying and still be part of the prayer.

I was a singer and instrumentalist for a long time and so am able to see beyond what most can.

One thing that kept my feet on the ground was the fact that I never loosened my grip on daily and substantial reading of the Bible. Another thing is that I was a celeb in small and far off lands. Of course I believe that God intentionally hid me. Imagine a singer who can play several instruments and preach and teach as well! God hid me. As an example, God always moved me when a church I was serving in started making plans to ordain me into one or the other position. And He still hides me.

A minister is most effective when he is performing his assignment, be it in the desert or the palace, whether he is serving crowds or the small abandoned children at the dumpsite.

People’s eyes do not determine your effectiveness. God does. And He is the only one who holds the key to the perfect reward. Remember this?

His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25:23)

The faithful servant does what he is commanded. He does not play to the gallery. Like in the parable, it was not the quantity of the returns that determined their commendation of judgment; it was doing what they had been asked to do.

Yet the limelight moves the goalposts to what the crowds (and a church could very easily become a crowd) demand or desire. I believe the limelight is the reason this verse is in the Bible.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (2Timothy 4:3)

We must have our spirits hardened in the secret place to resist the pressure the crowds (even if it is the FB or church crowd) places on our doctrine. And we must allow ourselves to be hidden.

We must resist the urge to pursue publicity.

We must not advertise ministry. In fact advertising ministry converts it to a business. Jesus said that it is our fruit that will push the ministry forward.

Many pastors must have their faces and names wherever the church’s signboard is. In fact they make the name and picture more prominent than the name of the church. Then they will wonder why the devil is on their case all the time. You advertised your presence even before you went to the battlefield. You will never experience rest.

You write a book targeting the enemy of souls. Then you advertise it heavily. Then you wonder why everything is falling apart. Yet you announced to the devil what you will do to him if the book sells.

Maybe you sing a song that raises God’s profile in worship or instruction. Then you publicize it on all the media outlets. Then you wonder why everybody starts harassing you.

When I worked with a media house, the only one then, many Christian singers brought their tapes (it was before CDs) to be played on air. Surprising as it seems, they had to bribe the continuity announcers and producers to have their ‘Christian’ songs played. Many had to sleep with those same people to have their ‘worship’ played on air.

To date, many producers require a pound of flesh from worshippers who must penetrate the ceiling to make their music popular.

Why should the god of this world, who also is the ruling spirit of the media, allow unfettered access to his kingdom for those opposed to and working contrary to it? That is why you must pay using his currency. Sadly that currency is sin. And that is what any minister who must use his effort to get to the limelight must use. And the primary reason is because God is not interested in you being on the limelight unless He places you there for war.

Do you realize that most popular choirs (worship teams in today’s language) start falling apart when they hit through the ceiling into great popularity. And many times what brings them down is sexual immorality. Perfect harmony arouses the desire for human appreciation. Once it is given a chance, the rest is downhill as the flesh thrives.

And it is not any different with solo singers. I have written elsewhere that very spiritual songs and lifestyle expose a singer to the people. Then fame takes over, making later songs spiritual trash as they will be appreciated anyway. Their purity of life later becomes irrelevant to their performance.

What is the advantage of allowing God to hide you after any battle?

The first is freedom. You are content with the audience of One, who is the Lord and King of your life. There is no expectation from the masses.

Like Elijah and John the Baptist, you could dress in rags and it wouldn’t matter as your Lord is fine with it. Like Isaiah you could walk naked for three years and not run mad because you are playing to your audience of One. Like Jonah you could preach stinking like fish and looking like you were from being cooked with fish oil because you have reconciled with your Lord. Like Paul you can sing in prison while bound to the stocks because you know God is never caught by surprise. And like Noah you are able to build that humongous box to protect you from a flood even when you do not even know, let alone can conceptualize what rain is.

But being hidden requires you to be able to hear clearly what your Lord orders. Only then will you know when to get to the battlefield and when to retreat to the hiding place.

Application question; do you know what God requires of you NOW?