The Unveiling
Perhaps you are familiar with a scene where a great artist is about to display his masterpiece. The artwork is covered with a veil while an audience gathers around anticipating the moment where the artist pulls the veil off to reveal his brilliant work to the crowd. When he finally pulls the veil off, a beautiful piece of art is displayed and the audience is captured by the genius of the artist and his treasured masterpiece. If you read through the bible, it’s almost as though God does this same thing when he uncovers a person that he has kept hidden and reveals the treasure within them. It doesn’t happen this way with every person in the bible, but it seems to have happened frequently.
Example of Artwork Unveiled
Examples of God’s Unveiling
One of the first people that comes to mind is Joseph. Joseph was given a dream that he would one day be a person of great power with others bowing to him. However, everything about his life seemed to go in a completely opposite direction from becoming a powerful ruler. Instead he became a slave and was then sent to prison. Joseph’s life showed no evidence that he would be raised up to a powerful position, but a day came when God set up circumstances to let Pharaoh know that Joseph could interpret dreams.
Since Pharaoh had just had a dream that he couldn’t understand, he wanted to know what his dream meant. He was informed that a man in prison named Joseph could interpret dreams so Pharaoh sent for him. Joseph stood before Pharaoh told him that his dreams were a message from God and that there would be seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. Not only did Joseph interpret the dream, he also shared a specific plan with Pharaoh that would help him to prepare for the famine.
In a moment’s time, God set Joseph before Pharaoh and unveiled the treasure of wisdom that Joseph possessed. Pharaoh immediately appointed Joseph as a top ruler within the kingdom of Egypt so that his value could benefit the world.
David’s Unveiling
Many years later there would be a shepherd boy who was assigned by his father to take some food to his brothers who were at war with the Philistines. Upon doing so, David observed the conflict between the Israelites and an intimidating Philistine giant named Goliath. Goliath had been taunting the Israelites and challenging them to send someone to fight him, but the Israelites ran in fear when he did this. When David saw this and began to ask questions, he was rebuked by his brother and was initially told by King Saul that he did not possess the ability to fight Goliath. When David persisted in wanting to fight the giant, King Saul granted him permission and David ran to the battle with a sling and stone. He slew Goliath with his sling and stone and cut off his head. The Israelites then pursued the Philistines and were victorious in battle.
Who was David? He was a little known shepherd boy at the start of the day. Before the day was over, God uncovered a mighty warrior and man who had the courage to believe that God’s power was with him in the face of the most dangerous of enemies. It’s as though God unveiled this unnoticed treasured warrior before a King and an army in a moment’s time.
Many Were Unveiled
In a moment’s time, Esther’s beauty was made known to the king and she became a queen who went on to save the Jews from extermination. God unveiled Gideon and Moses to the people of Israel as those who would deliver them from their enemies. Throughout the Bible, God chose people who were often hidden or unknown and caused them to be treasures who could benefit others.
If we move onto the New Testament, Jesus was Baptized by John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove while a voice came from heaven saying, this is my Son in whom I am well pleased. God pulled the veil back to reveal His treasured Son and he went on to do signs, wonders and miracles. Peter and John told a man who had been crippled to rise and walk, and he began walking in full view of those in Jerusalem, including the unbelieving Pharisees. God unveiled the apostles as those who had power to demonstrate that Jesus was indeed alive and that his name had the power to heal.
All these instances show how God has worked throughout history to bring about crucial moments where he could show forth the true value of his treasured ones, not only to glorify himself, but to position them so that the value of their talents, gifts, abilities, and wisdom could be utilized to the benefit of the world and His Kingdom.
Not as Sudden as it Seemed
Each time you read about a sudden unveiling of those whom God used in the Bible, it seems like God just instantly raised some lowly person up. While this is partially true, there was a huge process that took a long time before that person was ever raised up. It would be more pleasant to think that there’s no need to go through a process, but there usually is. Only God can bring about the circumstances that lead to a sudden unveiling of someone God wants to raise up, but the person must be a willing participant in the process that leads up to that event.
I want to point out that most of the cases I referred to in the Bible happened within the context of a person being recognized for their value by a king. Not all of us are going to stand before an earthly king. However, there are many important people in the world who can position us to release the treasure within us when God arranges to unveil our value to them. But just like the men and women of the Bible, we will often go through a process of preparation before that happens.
Separated and Set Apart
God has a plan for us and he wants to see it come to pass. If he sees that the circumstances surrounding our lives will keep us headed in the right direction, then he will leave us in those circumstances. On the other hand, if sees that our current circumstances will not take us in a direction that is in accordance with his plans, then he may intervene and remove us from our current circumstances, and put us in a whole new setting.
When you read the Bible, you will find that God often pulled people out of the setting that they were in and put them in a whole new setting. It often meant that the person that God was dealing with would be removed from their family, their community, and their current location. This didn’t just happen once or twice in the Bible, it happened over and over again.
Those Were Separated
In Genesis 12:1, God spoke to Abram, telling him, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Verse 3 goes on to tell us, “So Abram left, as the Lord told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.” You can see from these verses that God needed Abraham to move if he was to inherit the land of Canaan, which would be the Promised Land that God would give him and his descendants.
Jacob and Moses
As you continue through the Bible, you find that Jacob had to flee for his life to escape the wrath of his brother Esau. As a result, he ended up back in Haran before returning to Canaan. His son Joseph became the next person of focus in the bible and we find that Joseph was separated from his family and sold as slave to Egypt. Eventually, all of the Israelites ended up in Egypt. Their way of escape was Moses.
Moses was separated from his family as an infant when his mother placed him in a basket in the Nile River to hide him from Pharaoh who was killing male infants to keep the Jews from growing in population. Moses was discovered in the Nile River by Pharaoh’s daughter and was raised by him along with the help of Moses’s mom. Moses was separated from his people even more when he killed a man and fled to Midian for 40 years before coming back to Egypt.
Samuel David and Others
We can go onto Samuel who was given to the Lord’s service by his mother and was raised by Eli Priest. Samuel was the prophet who anointed David as king while he was still a shepherd boy. David’s life was threatened by King Saul, so David fled into the wilderness and was separated from his family and his people for several years. As you read through the Old Testament, Esther, Naomi, Ruth, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, all had times where they were removed from their setting and put into a completely different setting.
John the Baptist and Jesus
When we look at the New Testament, John the Baptist separated himself and lived in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry. When we look at Jesus, his family fled with him to Egypt not long after he was born in order to escape from Herod who was killing males under two years old. As an adult, when Jesus began his ministry and preached in synagogue in his home town, he was thrown out of the synagogue and the people wanted to throw him off a cliff. His own community did not accept or appreciate him as the Messiah.
Removed from Social Constraints and Circumstantial Limitations
God had plans for each of these people, but there were often social constraints and other circumstantial limitations that would keep them from God’s plan in the setting they were in. It appears that God would then take them out of that setting and put them in a place where he could accomplish his will for their lives. During this process, it seemed as though the opportunities that they looked forward to in their home land were lost, and the new circumstances in the new setting were quite limiting, but in the end, God turned the situation around.
When the people in the Bible were removed from their community and put into a new setting, it seemed harsh at the time. However, in each case, God was up to something, and he was developing a treasure that would benefit the world in the manner he desired. But was it easy? No. Was it pleasant? An even bigger no!
It is one thing to be removed from a familiar setting because it’s within God plans and purposes to allow it to happen, but it’s another thing to have difficulties come into your life out of rebellion. Moses did end up in another land because of a murder, but there came a time when he had to submit himself to God and obey him to walk in his will. If we have been removed from our family or a familiar setting, the best way for us to trust that God is at work in our lives is to submit ourselves to him and let him work things out. If we are not submitted to God, we have no confidence that what we are going through has anything to do with his plan of forming us into the treasured work that he desires.
God has the Right Plan for Each Person
I want to repeat that it’s not God’s plan for everyone to be separated from their family and community. Your family and community may be the best way for God to fulfill his plan, but if it’s not, then God may separate you from circumstances that will limit his plan for your life. To be holy is to be separated from things that aren’t of God, and set apart as his possession. This allows him to fulfill his purpose of making you and your abilities a treasure to the world. Sometimes that means being separated from your family, community, and the setting you’re in, and sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, God wants to guide your life in the right direction to fulfill his plan.