“Be Careful Of Success” 

We love success stories… people who start out in dire circumstances but then overcome giant obstacles to achieve success. We are fascinated hearing that Michael Jordon was cut from his high school basketball team, that Walt Disney was fired as a young man from his newspaper job for a lack of good ideas, that Henry Ford went bankrupt twice trying to start a car company. Did you know that Decca Records told the Beatles that  “guitar groups are on the way out” and “The Beatles have no future in show business.” Yikes. 

But what about the opposite stories of the “Can’t Miss People”, those who start out with a BANG, but then fizzle out. I guess you call these tragedies. We recently read the story of Solomon, a real tragedy. He started out tremendously well, humbly asking God not for riches , but for wisdom. “And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king in place of David my father …. give thy servant therefore an understanding mind to govern thy people, that I may discern between good and evil …. it pleased the Lord and God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word …. I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. (1Kings 3:5-12) And all of that came about in spades….. “the wisdom of Solomon, incredible  riches more than Smaug the dragon of  Hobbit fame. Solomon had it all and the world was at his feet…. building the temple in Jerusalem, countries sitting at his feet.

Yet after all of this, Solomon ended tragically… worshiping false gods, turning from the Lord. “For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods; … so Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD…. …  and the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, …. I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. (1 Kings 11:4-11) Talk about success turning into ruin.

So what’s the moral of this BLOG? Well for those who start out with failure, don’t quit… the Lord will help you…. failure is often a necessary step before success. But for those who are enjoying blessings and even great success…. BE CAREFUL!!!  Pride is subtle…. often we don’t even know it’s undermining our life. It’s easy to take bows when we’re doing well, to seemingly deflect the praise, yet to quietly think that my success belongs to me and is due to my great mind, my wonderful ingenuity, my persistence….. “oh Dave, how did you do it…. what’s your secret Dave ….. can you help me Solomon…I mean Dave.” 

In many ways, we should be on our knees more when we are enjoying success than when we are in the midst of failure. “Lord, I am an inch away from blowing the whole thing…help me to give ALL the glory to you, help me to be generous with any success I’ve received from your hand.” At every point of our life, in success and failure, we need the Lord. As the beautiful song says, “Lord I need you, oh I need you…every hour I need you.” And our wonderful Lord will hear this cry and help us.