Mike Focht 5/24/2024
God often hides the spiritual growth we so desperately want to see. You and I must trust that He will allow us to perceive our growth when He gives us the grace to see it without ruining it. God knows that we are apt to spoil things. There are many reasons why it is good for us to have the process of our spiritual growth hidden from our view.
One reason God keeps our growth hidden from us is that if we saw it, we would become complacent. Spiritual growth requires diligence. After encouraging the various additions to our faith, Peter says, Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure…
We approach our careers, favorite pastimes, meals, and even vacations with diligence that often shames our diligence in spiritual matters. If we were to clearly see our spiritual progress, we would slow our pace, lazily content with how far we have come. The realization that we have grown comes with the temptation to indulge.
God knows we should press on diligently and only recognize how far we have come once we have arrived. In that regard, God often allows us to see our past growth once we reach a place where desire or need pushes us further on anyway. Praise Him that He hides our progress from our eyes in places we would tend to linger.
Another reason that God keeps our growth hidden from us is because of our pride. It would quickly go to our heads if we always recognized our growth in spiritual wisdom, spiritual joy, spiritual discretion, biblical knowledge, and Christ-likeness. We would immediately look around and wonder why all the Christians around us are taking so long to mature. The knowledge of our spiritual growth would puff us up. Our flesh greatly enjoys being recognized as excellent at anything—even an excellent Christian.
Praise God that He keeps our growth hidden from our eyes so we remain humble and dependent upon Him. God allows dry seasons and even the dark night of the soul to purify our motives and keep us comparing ourselves to Jesus Christ and not other fallible Christians. He hides our eyes from what would inflate our pride and become the enemy of our progress. By hiding our growth from us, He keeps us humbly looking to Him, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
One final reason God keeps our growth hidden from us is to keep us out of the process. We all tend to want to give God a hand in things. The process of spiritual life and fruit is much too complex for you and me to meddle with, but we sure like to give God our opinions anyway. We often desire to direct our spiritual fruit's place, time, and process. All while having absolutely no idea what God is trying to do in us and through us for His own glory and kingdom. Praise God that He keeps our progress hidden from our eyes. It keeps the whole process moving with a lot less friction.
Trust God. He will allow you to see your spiritual growth when you are ready to see it. Until then, praise God for hiding it from you!