Time of Revealing
Often, God will place us in an unexpected situation to reveal what is in our heart. It’s a continuous and inevitable process. He intends to do it so that we will recognize the hidden things that we carry which are not from Him such as unforgiveness, anger, selfish desires, unrecognized sin, pride, rebellious heart, etc. God loves to reveal our true selves through exposing what is in our hearts to show us how His hands work in and through us.
Sin Exposes All
Adam and Eve realized that they were naked only after they fell into sin. Habakkuk’s heart was exposed when God seemed silent to the Israelites (See Hab.3:17-19). The Scripture tells us how Thomas doubted Jesus even though he lived with Him in a long period of time and the surprising acknowledgement of who Simon Peter was while kneeling before the Lord after the miraculous fishing (See Luke 5:8). Daniel knows it and explained, “He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him” (Daniel 2:22).
Suffering Job said, "He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light (Job 12:22).” Why? So that one day, we will all understand our worth in His eyes and give praises to God our Heavenly Father. "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 14:2) and “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
When God reveals something about us, it could hurt us, shake us, and will give us mixed emotions but we need not resist it because God is taking away one by one the corruptible things we do, the things we have which are not from Him, the things we think is best, the things that give us false security, the things we do not want to surrender, and the things we hide.
Testing Reveals Our Status
God allows us to wait not because he wants us to suffer nor cause us pain and heartaches but because he wants us to grow, mature, and discover the real treasure that is worth holding on to. Waiting exposes the strongholds and the false security we lean on. He is a teacher who tests us to prepare us for the challenges ahead of us. Test unveils our deepest level of understanding of Him. It reveals the parts of who we are that we continuously conceal.
Moreover, He makes a way to turn our gaze back to Him and at the same time guides us back to the right path as we walk toward Him. He turns sorrow to gladness, pain to delight, fear to love, confusion to peace, and doubt to faith. Paul declared, “Therefore judge nothing before the proper time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). Also David, “ For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried (Psalm 66:10) “so that the authenticity of your faith–more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).
Painful But Worth It
Indeed, the time of revealing could be painful but the good thing about it is it’s God revealing Himself to us. He does not leave us worried, in pain, scared, fearful, and caught up in mixed emotions but He will intervene in His time to remind us that He loves us and He wants us to grow. That He works all things for good of those He called (Romans 8:28). That His grace and mercy are new every morning (Lamentaions 3:23). That His kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). That He orchestrates everything for our good. That He quiets us with His love (Zepaniah 3:17). That He is great and majestic (Psalm 104:1). That He refines, filters, prunes, and molds us. That His hands paint beautiful images in a clean canvas. The time of revealing leaves us refreshed, extremely joyful, passionate, kind, compassionate, faithful, and enthusiastic because we no longer rely on what we know, what we have, and on who we are but on who God is in our life and we know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance (James 1:7).
