Hidden.

Have you ever felt like you were hidden in someone’s shadow?

Like all the work you do, all the ways you give and serve go unseen or get credited to someone else?

In the book of Exodus, Joshua must have felt this way at times. In this season of his life, he was simply Moses’ assistant. Moses led the people of Israel through the deserts of Sinai. Moses sought God on their behalf, and Moses was credited with supplying (through God’s miraculous provision) fresh water, food, and direction for all the people.

Yet Joshua was there with him too.

Joshua climbed the mountain with Moses to receive the Ten Commandments, and Joshua was in the tent when God spoke to Moses “face to face” (Exodus 33:11 NIV).

Joshua, however, knew something more about living in the shadows than we oftentimes do. After God spoke, Moses would leave the tent, but Joshua would stay behind. He would remain there in God’s presence. He would soak in God’s truth because he knew his Father saw his efforts, his Father saw his sweat, his Father knew his heart even when no one else did. God had a plan for Joshua.

A good plan.

A plan for leadership.

But it would have to come to fruition in His time.

If you’re feeling overlooked right now or are walking through a season where God has you hidden, don’t give in to the lie that you’re insignificant. Don’t believe that you don’t matter or that your work is somehow not worth the effort.

Hidden seasons can be challenging for all of us. They can tempt us to feel less than or even envious of others. But God is often preparing us in these seasons for something more. He’s calling us to hold fast to Him like Joshua did. To take our feelings of invisibility and insignificance to Him and abide. Then His affirmations can wash over us until He chooses to raise us up.

John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

In what ways might God be calling you to abide with Him today?

* Originally published by The Joyful Life Magazine.