There was a time when the Lord impressed on me the overwhelming desire to invite his women to come aside to spend time with the Holy Spirit. ‘Women of the Spirit’ took me all over, sharing fellowship with women in some unlikely places that I would most probably never have visited otherwise. It was a deeply enriching period in my life, and I still reap the benefit of those profound encounters with the Spirit of God as we took time away from our often too busy daily routines to just delight and dance in his presence, every sense tuned to hear him speak. The gifts of the Spirit flowed freely, and we encouraged one another in ways not often possible in normal congregational settings.
One such place we visited was Namibia, home of a vast desert that I had heard much about. The Namib is believed to be the world's oldest desert and is also one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, so the thought of experiencing it really excited my imagination. Namibia is a pretty arid place, and the city we were in was surrounded by sand, and it wasn’t long before we started to see some of the famously huge sand dunes that dominated the horizon.
Eventually we stopped and got out of our vehicles. The first thing that hit me was not the heat, but the SILENCE. It was so deep that I was reluctant to speak and deep in thought, I wandered off some distance from the chattering group. It felt as though I could taste that silence as I breathed it in slowly. Already sensitized to the Still Small Voice by what we had experienced in the meetings, it felt as though my physical eyes and ears had also sharpened.
“Speak Lord, your servant is listening…”
Suddenly I was startled as something skittered right over my naked, sandaled toes. I looked down at an exquisitely colored gecko that had been invisible up to that moment – its camouflage was that perfect! I watched it hurry off to hide, and I heard that still, small voice:
“Pride is like that gecko. You don’t see it until another presence moves it...”
It seems I am a slow learner. Not too long afterward, some GI’s attended our home group still wearing their camo kit. Once again that still, small voice was unmistakable:
“Pride is like a soldier standing in the shadows. You don’t see him until the light moves…”
It is my experience that only the Holy Spirit can open the eyes of a spirit to what is hiding in plain sight, too often perfectly camouflaged as humility. Thank God that when we are willing, he reveals the pride that creeps and seeps into our hearts when we least expect it.
