A couple of weeks ago I hiked up a hill and sat down to talk with God.  After only a few minutes, I heard a rustle and turned to see something coming straight toward me, just a few feet away, through the grass.  It was a very large badger, and knowing their antagonistic reputation, I immediately braced myself - a tightness in my chest.  But just as immediate, I heard my Father say, "Sit still; he doesn't know you're here."

Today, as I pondered that scene again, the Spirit said, "there is a place" in which the enemy, though right beside us, doesn't see us - a location at which he is preoccupied with other things and unaware of our presence.  But this place of hiddenness doesn't always look like we imagine it to look. 

When we think of being hidden in the stronghold of God, we often see ourselves as large, powerful, and robust - standing firmly with magnificent armor.  And sometimes that is true.  But the picture I saw today was quite different.  It was one of myself being weak, weary, and exhausted.  I appeared, from all exterior views, to be failing in several areas of my life - not handling certain situations as I longed to handle them.

I thought of Jesus, and how He must have appeared the days and hours before His death.  Again, from all exterior views, he seemed to be failing; He was weak, bloody, beaten, and broken.  But in reality, He was in a place of which His enemy knew not - a place of incredible hiddenness - a place of supernatural strength.  How? 

You see, the adversary focuses on the outside - the obvious.  He looks at our flesh and exterior circumstances and is quite content when we appear defeated in our human bodies.  But our Lord knows all things and nothing is hidden from His eyes.  Behind the curtain of our weakness, He is perfecting and pouring out His strength.  Through our weaknesses, He is building His Kingdom.

Paul was in a great place of frustration and pain, tormented by Satan and crying out to God for relief when he heard the Spirit say this:  ". . . My power works best in your weakness."  Paul's response?  "So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me."  The Amplified Bible says, "Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!"    II Cor. 12:9b

Don't beat yourself up for being weak.  Don't try to run from trials and infirmities.  Instead, let the Spirit show you what only He sees - the hidden reality.  Trust God's wisdom; lean on Him and be confident in His plans and purposes.  Set your love upon Him, for He is doing a work that we could never imagine or dream of.  We are standing in a land where we can feast upon His faithfulness.  Let Him pitch a tent of power and strength over you!

Amy