Growing in Secret

Luke 1 ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Have you gotten that promotion at work? Have you finally got that automobile of your dreams or just conceived after a long wait in marriage? What is it? Or has the man of your dreams finally proposed?  What miracle has happened to you lately and you just can’t keep it to yourself? Is it that scholarship to pursue your studies abroad? I know you are excited but calm down sweety, relax and breath in. Ask yourself one question. Why? Why do you want to scream it out to the world that finally it has happened?

For a long time now, I have realized that there are certain trends in my life that given a chance I wouldn’t want to retrace those paths. For the twenty something years I have lived, I now know  that many things I ever wanted to pursue aborted along the way because of unwise use of a little part of my body I call the tongue. One day I wake up with such a vivid dream and vision that I even write down but because I am bubbling with excitement, I end up spewing that to friends and those that I deem close. Because it’s a crazy and humanly far-fetched dream, some whom I need approval from stump on it and the next thing I know is that it’s dead!

After studying the story of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, I discovered that I have continued to make the same mistakes over and over again. Telling the wrong people about my dreams and to ‘pursue’ list forgetting that even those who are closest enough are hardly entirely happy for your progress; like most friends, they will just be content that you are doing well but not better off than them.

I am learning from this woman Elizabeth an important concept. She had been an object of sheer mockery because of her barrenness but one day when God lifts her reproach and she conceives, she hides herself for five months to allow the blessing to grow first before she speaks about it.

Hiding herself in this context does not suggest in any way hiding from the presence of God but rather to say, she did not go forth into public with the news but concealed her condition until it was right to share out. The need for hiding to grow is mainly to allow you time to engage with God, giving praise to God for his mercies, and that she might have the fullest proof of the accomplishment of the promise before she appeared in public or spoke of the mercies of God. (This is not to suggest by any means that Elizabeth doubted the accuracy of Gods miracle, the sign was already there with her husband being stricken dumb. Therefore, it would be wrong to assume that she didn’t believe and just wanted to confirm the Lord had taken her reproach. She actually says the reason for her hiding is because the Lord has lifted her reproach, by that time, she is certain that she is pregnant.)

Hiding and concealing your blessing is not only to let it grow before the “enemy” tries to destroy it but rather to seek the Lord and find grace to sustain the blessing before it is birth.

ü  I have learned to be slow in sharing good news with others before I have thoroughly talked it over with God.

ü  I have also learned that the things I feel most strongly about are the things I ought to be silent about until am sure it’s time to speak out.

Have you been telling the wrong people about the most intricate aspects of your life? Take it easy, learn to grow in silence and speak out once the plant has shot up from the grown stable roots that can’t be cut off!