But Jehosheba . . . took Joash . . . and stole him away from the royal princes who were about to be murdered. (2 Kings 11:2)

“PUT THAT MONEY AWAY and pretend you don’t have it.” That was the advice my father gave me when I earned my first real paycheck. For once I held in my hand an amount greater than even I could blow in one weekend. But Dad knew the danger in that. Money in plain view is an easy target for every whim and impulse. To save something of value, it’s best to put it away.

That’s what Jehosheba did with Joash. She kept him under wraps for six years so that the heir of David and ancestor of Christ would be kept safe and ready for the Lord’s work. He would be revealed in due time. Others thought Joash was lost, killed by the evil Athaliah, but there is a difference between hidden and lost. Not all things kept from view are gone forever.

God sometimes does for us what Jehosheba did with Joash and what my father urged me to do with my income: hide it from view so that it will be preserved. What seems lost in your life? Purpose? A relationship? Hope? The ability to love? We too easily give up believing that the things we no longer see are real. They may not be gone at all, merely hidden from view, kept so they can be revealed in due time.

Close your eyes and ask God to reveal a hidden thing.

Lawrence W. Wilson is the author of A Different Kind of Crazy (WPH) and coauthor of The Long Road Home (WPH). He lives in central Indiana and blogs at www.lawrencewilson.com.

© 2018 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.