The God Who Hides Before He Reveals
Identity & CallingIsaiah 45:3
Sacred Seasons of Divine Hiddenness
By Matthew (Tolu) Olowoyeye
"And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.",
Cyrus, a pagan king, was called by name by God before he was born. And the proof of God's knowledge of him would be demonstrated in this: God would give him treasures of darkness. Hidden riches. Things that were only accessible in secret places. This is the paradox of divine hiddenness, what God conceals is not withheld. It is protected until the appointed time.
Insight Joseph spent two years in a prison he did not deserve after a promise that had not yet been fulfilled. David spent years in caves after being anointed king of Israel. Jesus spent thirty years in obscurity before three years of public ministry. The pattern is consistent: hiddenness precedes manifestation. Formation precedes function.
The season of hiddenness is where God does His deepest work. When no one is watching, when the platform is absent, when the recognition has not come, that is where the treasures of darkness are deposited. Character is formed in the invisible. Calling is anchored in the secret place. What you build in the hidden season is the foundation for everything that comes after.
Insight The danger in the hidden season is interpreting the silence as rejection. God's silence is not absence. It is the sound of His workmanship, the artisan who works by night so that the unveiling in the morning is worth waiting for. The vault is not a prison. It is a treasury.
Trust the darkness. The riches there are real. And when the season of hiddenness ends, it will end, you will emerge carrying things that could only have been found there.
Prayer Lord, I trust You in the hidden season. What looks like delay is Your design. What looks like darkness is Your vault. Teach me to receive the treasures of obscurity with the same gratitude I would offer the gifts of public ministry. I know that You are the God who calls me by name. Amen.
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