Success

Success is defined as "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose."  As followers of Jesus we must ask ourself, "whose aim or purpose" are we committed to seeing fulfilled?  It seems to me that the journey may be more important to God than the destination.  It was certainly important during the Exodus.  During that 40 year period, how a generation handled the journey actually kept them from entering their goal, the Promised Land.  Along those lines,  I have always been troubled by  the verse that said, "And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul." (Psa. 106:15) This reveals that God will allow us to insist on having our way until He allows us to go that way.  No man ever gets to the point to where he is 20/20 on knowing the full purpose and plan of God.  We must all remain open and pliable to being adjusted along the journey.  What could make a humble disciple become inflexible along the way?  A belief that they have it all together and that they know the full purpose of the Lord. Then, when we are successful doing a thing once we now believe we know how to do it and we can now mass produce what we have accomplished.  This is not a formula of success, it is a formula for disaster. God has designed us to live in such an intimate place of fellowship with Him that our direction, even our next step will come out of fellowship with Him. Maturity does not mean that we have arrived at a place where we work in our own strength and wisdom and give God the glory for what "we do for Him."  He is not interested!

King David, unlike Saul, is our example of continued desperation in the middle of success.  David even in his success on the battlefield continued to seek the Lord for each detail regarding the next endeavor.  May we become and remain so wise.  It is interesting that the longer we walk with the Lord the more dependent we become.  However, there is a place somewhere in the middle between a novice and a sage that seems to be the most dangerous place.  It is the place of success, the sweet spot of a career when it all seems easy.  That may be the most dangerous place of all.  Jesus said, "blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God".  May we choose to be poor in spirit and remain in that posture all the days of our lives, regardless of the appearance of success.