Imagine doing something worth recording in God’s very own book only for your name to be left out. No recognition, nothing. Mustn’t it be painful?
Regardless, this does not change the fact that there were some people in the Holy Bible who did some noble and crucial things. Though their name was not recorded, this does not take away the fact that their reward is guaranteed.
Let’s pray for grace to faithfully pine in obscurity even where credit isn’t given to us for what we’ve done. Our reward is in heaven.
What did Jesus say?
“But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you”
Matthew 6:3-4
Learning from the life of Jesus, it’s interesting to note how He constantly hid himself from the crowd. Why did someone so popular need to be identified with a kiss by His disciple?
It’s clear that the spotlight or the applause of men was, if anything, repulsive to Jesus because He, “didn’t trust them, because He knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart” (John 2:24-25).
Whilst there are much more and extensive research has not been made by this writer to list them all, here are some noteworthy nameless people in the Bible:
- The woman who made peace on behalf of the city of Abel and negotiated with Joab by giving him the head of Sheba who had rebelled against David (II Samuel 20:19)
- The slave girl who was the catalyst to Naaman, the leper’s healing (2 Kings 5:3)
- The wise men who visited baby Jesus with gifts (Matthew 2)
- The female evangelist to Samaria (John 4)
- The boy who gave his lunch for Jesus to feed 5,000 (John 6:9)
- Paul’s nephew who warned him of the assassination attempt on his life (Acts 23:16)
Be encouraged. Our Father who sees in secret will reward openly. Amen.
Further Reading
Oswald Chambers wrote a book titled, ‘The Love of God’ with a Chapter, ‘The Ministry of the Unnoticed’. Here, he speaks about the thousands of disciples who sincerely followed Christ but were not named in the Bible save the 12 we are familiar with. The Bible actually calls them ‘The Crowd’. Yet, they were just as important in the forward movement of the church as any named disciple or apostle.
He states, “The true character of the loveliness that influences for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is always prideful and un-Christian. When we begin to wonder whether we are of any use, we instantly lose the bloom of the touch of the Lord. … If we begin to examine our outflow, we lose touch with the source.”