Jesus At Work: The Secret Strength Of Hidden Work

SEEK AND SEND

God doesn't just care about getting you there; He cares about getting into you what you're going to need when you get there.

• The right thing at the wrong time can crush you instead of bless you.
• Desire alone doesn't equal readiness.

Genesis 2:4–5

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up — for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground…

God created both fullness and potential.

Genesis 1:11

And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed…"

Genesis 2:5

For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground.

There was future growth, hidden growth in creation that God intended to develop through partnership with man.

• Before we have future fruit, we have to have hidden growth.
• If your roots don't develop deep enough, the weight of the fruit will eventually pull the whole tree down.
• The hidden years are when God does some of His best work; it's when God, with us, cultivates what is necessary to make us strong and stable.

Jesus and the Hidden Years

• Lived 33 years on earth.
• Only 3 years of His life are really recorded in detail.
• Roughly 90% of Jesus' life was hidden.
• The Son of God spent most of His earthly life in hidden seasons.

Luke 2:52

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.

"The balanced growth of Jesus is remarkable. He matured intellectually in wisdom, physically in stature, spiritually in favor with God, and socially in favor with people. This is a picture of complete human development." — John Stott

Even Jesus embraced hidden growth.

David and the Field

1 Samuel 16:11–13

Then Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here."

And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, "Arise, anoint him, for this is he."

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.

1 Samuel 16:17–19

So Saul said to his servants, "Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me." One of the young men answered, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him." Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son…"

Just because God has anointed you to do something great, that doesn't mean you're going to step right into it.

1. In the Field You Learn to Wait

1 Samuel 24:1–6

Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, "Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi." Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.)

Then the men of David said to him, "This is the day of which the Lord said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.'" And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe. Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. And he said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord."

1 Samuel 16:11

And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here."

• When you faithfully wait with God, you don't have to fear missing what God has for you.
• There is no expiration date on your calling.

2. In the Field You Learn to Fight

1 Samuel 17:32–37

Then David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."

But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." Moreover David said, "The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."

• Hidden seasons do not mean you have gone untested, it just means you have been unseen.
• The testimonies you build in hidden places become the strength you stand on in public battles.
• Too many people want to fight Goliath without ever fighting lions and bears first.
• Hidden battles prepare you for visible battles.

3. In the Field You Learn Your Strengths

1 Samuel 17:38–39

So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them." So David took them off.

David knew what didn't work because he knew what worked.

1 Samuel 17:40

And he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

Chose — bachar — to choose carefully, to examine and pick out, to choose intentionally.

Psalm 78:70–72

He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

4. In the Field You Learn You're Known

Psalm 139:1–18

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I'm far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!

I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night — but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous — how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!

Who David Was in the Field

• #1. David Was a Worshipper
• #2. David Was a Watcher
• #3. David Was a Warrior

2 Corinthians 10:13

We will not boast about what cannot be evaluated. Instead, we will stay within the field that God assigned us, so as to reach even you.