Book: From Sheep to Shepherd: Chapter 6: The Hidden Season: Leadership in the Pasture
- Dr. Layne McDonald
- May 29
- 9 min read
"And Samuel said to Jesse, 'Are all the young men here?' Then he said, 'There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.' And Samuel said to Jesse, 'Send and bring him; for we will not sit down till he comes here.'" : 1 Samuel 16:11 (NKJV)
The allure of the stage is a dangerous intoxicant. In our modern, hyper-connected culture, the metric of leadership has shifted from the weight of one’s character to the width of one’s reach. We are obsessed with the "platform." We want the crown, the influence, the title, and the visibility. We want to be the one Samuel is looking for, but we rarely want to be the one Jesse forgot in the field.
But here is the foundational truth of the Kingdom: God does not build leaders on stages; He builds them in pastures.
The "hidden season" is not a delay of your destiny; it is the development of your capacity. If you cannot lead a few sheep in the silence of the Judean wilderness, you will never be able to lead a nation from the steps of the palace. Leadership is not a platform you stand on; it is a pasture you serve in. It is the grueling, unglamorous, and often invisible work of tending to the things that belong to another until God decides you are ready to hold what is yours.
In this chapter, we are going to pull back the curtain on the quiet years. We are going to look at the Davidic model of private victory and the Moses model of desert de-learning. We are going to confront the "Platform Trap": the deadly gap between visibility and viability: and we are going to learn how to cultivate unseen excellence in the role you currently occupy.
The Davidic Model: The Power of Private Victories
When Samuel arrived at Bethlehem, he came with a horn of oil and a divine mandate to find a king. Jesse, the father of the house, paraded his seven eldest sons before the prophet. These men were impressive. They were tall, strong, and looked like kings. They had the "visibility" that the world rewards. But one by one, the Lord rejected them. "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature," God told Samuel, "for the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
Where was the heart God was looking for? It was miles away, covered in dust and smelling of livestock. David was in the pasture.
The pasture was David’s training ground, but it didn't feel like a "leadership seminar." It felt like isolation. It felt like being overlooked. While his brothers were likely training for war or negotiating business in the city gates, David was chasing runaway lambs and playing a harp for an audience of one.
However, it was in this hiddenness that David developed the two most critical components of leadership: Spirit-led worship and Sacrificial protection.
1. Worship in the Silence
In the pasture, David learned that the presence of God is enough. He didn't have a temple, a choir, or a congregation. He had the stars, the sheep, and his harp. Most of the Psalms we cherish today were birthed not in the palace of Jerusalem, but in the pastures of Bethlehem. David learned to lead his own soul before he was ever asked to lead a congregation.
If your leadership is dependent on the applause of people, you will eventually be destroyed by their criticism. But if your leadership is birthed in the "audience of one," you become unshakeable. The hidden season anchors your identity in who God says you are, rather than what the crowd says you do.
2. The Lion and the Bear
When David eventually stepped onto the public stage to face Goliath, he didn't point to his resume or his credentials. He pointed to his history in the dark. He told Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth... Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear" (1 Samuel 17:34-36).
Notice the details: No one saw David kill the lion. No one filmed him wrestling the bear. There was no Instagram post, no press release, and no commendation from the elders. If David had let the lion take the sheep, no one would have known. He could have made an excuse. He could have said the "market conditions" were too dangerous.
But David defended the flock when no one was watching. He fought the secret battles that gave him the spiritual authority to win the public ones. If you haven't killed your lion in the pasture, you have no business facing a giant in the valley.
The Moses Model: The 40-Year Desert Training
If David’s hidden season was about building confidence, Moses’ hidden season was about building humility.
Moses started with massive visibility. He was a prince of Egypt, trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and powerful in word and deed (Acts 7:22). He had the platform. He had the resources. He even had a "vision" to deliver his people. But Moses made the mistake that many young leaders make today: he tried to use a secular platform to achieve a spiritual purpose. He tried to bring deliverance through his own strength, and it ended in a murder and a flight into the desert.
Moses spent the next 40 years in the land of Midian. Think about the scale of that hiddenness. Forty years. He went from the palace of Pharaoh to the backside of a desert. He went from commanding servants to serving sheep.
In Midian, Moses was undergoing a "de-learning" process. God had to take the "Egypt" out of the leader before He could use the leader to take the people out of Egypt. The desert is where your ego goes to die. It is where you realize that your charisma is not enough, your education is not enough, and your pedigree is not enough.
When God finally appeared to Moses in the burning bush, Moses was a different man. The cocky prince who thought he could save Israel by his own hand was now the trembling shepherd who said, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" (Exodus 3:11).
The hidden season had worked. Moses was finally viable. He had moved from being a "self-made" leader to a "God-sustained" shepherd. He had learned the geography of the desert: the very desert he would eventually lead two million people through. His 40 years of anonymity were not wasted time; they were the "scouting mission" for his ultimate calling.
The Platform Trap: Visibility vs. Viability
In the world of leadership development, there is a dangerous phenomenon I call the "Platform Trap." This occurs when a leader’s visibility (how seen they are) far exceeds their viability (how healthy and sound their character is).
When you have high visibility but low viability, you are a disaster waiting to happen. You are like a skyscraper built on a foundation of sand. The taller the building (the bigger the platform), the more pressure is put on the foundation (the character). If the foundation hasn't been cured in the "hidden season," the entire structure will eventually collapse under the weight of its own success.
Dimension | The Platform (Visibility) | The Pasture (Viability) |
Focus | How many people are watching? | Who am I when no one is watching? |
Metric | Likes, followers, attendance, revenue. | Integrity, prayer life, fruit of the Spirit. |
Danger | Performance and image management. | Pride and self-reliance. |
Goal | To be known by men. | To be known by God. |
Sustainability | Short-term hype; burnout. | Long-term faithfulness; endurance. |
In our Pentecostal and charismatic heritage, we often celebrate the "anointing," but we must remember that anointing without character is a recipe for scandal. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to serve, but the "hidden season" gives us the character to survive. God is more concerned with the viability of your soul than the visibility of your brand.
If you find yourself in a hidden season right now: if you feel overlooked, under-leveraged, or stuck in a role that feels "below" your potential: understand this: God is protecting you. He is letting your roots grow deep before He lets your branches grow wide. He is making you viable so that when the visibility comes, it won't kill you.
Cultivating "Unseen Excellence" in Your Current Role
How do we practically navigate the hidden season? How do we lead when there is no audience, no title, and no "success" in the eyes of the world? It requires a commitment to what I call "Unseen Excellence."
1. Lead the "Small" with the Spirit of the "Great"
David didn't wait until he was king to act with excellence. He treated his father’s few sheep as if they were the most important flock on earth. He fought for them as if they were a nation.
Whatever you have in your hand right now: whether it’s a small business, a Sunday School class, a entry-level job, or a family: lead it with the same integrity and passion you would if you were leading a thousand. God tests your faithfulness in the small things to determine your fitness for the great things (Matthew 25:21).
2. Kill Your Lions in Private
Don't wait for a public crisis to develop your spiritual discipline. The time to learn how to pray, how to fast, and how to stand on the Word of God is in the pasture. If you are struggling with a "lion" of lust, a "bear" of bitterness, or a "wolf" of greed in your private life, deal with it now. Don't assume that a bigger platform will fix your character flaws; it will only magnify them. Use the hiddenness as a laboratory for sanctification.
3. Serve Another Man’s Vision
Both David and Moses spent their hidden years serving someone else. David served his father Jesse and later King Saul. Moses served his father-in-law Jethro.
One of the greatest tests of a leader is how they handle being "second." Can you be faithful to help someone else succeed? Can you tend "another man’s sheep" with excellence? If you cannot be a loyal second, you will never be a healthy first. The pasture is where you learn to lay down your own ego and serve the mission, regardless of who gets the credit.
4. Master the Geography of Your Desert
Moses didn't know he was going to lead the Exodus through the wilderness of Midian, but God did. Every mountain Moses climbed while looking for a lost goat was a mountain he would later descend with the Ten Commandments.
Look at your current "hidden" circumstances. What skills are you learning? What people are you interacting with? What "desert terrain" are you becoming familiar with? God never wastes a season. The very thing that feels like a "detour" right now is actually the "training manual" for your future assignment.
The High Stakes of Faithfulness
We live in a culture that is terrified of being forgotten. We equate being "hidden" with being "useless." But in the economy of God, the hidden years are the most productive years.
Jesus Himself spent thirty years in the hiddenness of a carpenter’s shop before beginning three years of public ministry. Ten-to-one ratio. For every one year of visibility, there were ten years of viability-building. If the Son of God needed a hidden season, why do we think we can skip it?
If you are in the pasture today, take heart. You aren't being punished; you are being prepared. Don't try to "manufacture" your own visibility. Don't try to kick down doors that God hasn't opened. Stay with the sheep. Keep playing your harp. Keep killing your lions.
When the time is right, Samuel will come. The oil will be poured. And you will find that the shepherd’s staff you’ve been holding is exactly the right shape for a kingly scepter.
A Prayer for the Shepherd in the Pasture
Father, I thank You for the leaders reading this today who feel hidden, overlooked, or stuck in a season of anonymity. Lord, I ask that You would give them eyes to see the pasture through Your perspective. Help them to realize that You are building deep roots of character and integrity in the silence. Holy Spirit, give them the strength to kill the lions and bears in their private lives. Protect them from the "Platform Trap" and the desire for visibility without viability. May they be found faithful in the small things, serving with unseen excellence, and trusting in Your perfect timing. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Layne McDonald, Ph.D., is a dedicated author, minister, and leadership consultant committed to helping individuals and organizations align with biblical truth. Through his extensive work in Christian publishing and ministry, Dr. McDonald provides practical, Spirit-led resources designed to disciple believers, strengthen families, and equip leaders to navigate modern culture with wisdom and grace. His mission is to see the Kingdom of God advanced through biblically grounded teaching and the pursuit of eternal purpose.
What "lion" are you currently facing in your private life that is preparing you for your public destiny?
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