Success is more Dangerous than Failure

I have misread my circumstances many times in my life. I have read God’s pleasure or displeasure into things that were not directly connected to either one of those things. When things go wrong, I tend to ask, “What am I doing wrong?” Is God angry at me? Is He punishing me, or is He trying to get my attention? While this set of questions might sound childish or simplistic, blaming ourselves for our bad circumstances is often correct. We frequently orchestrate our own problems with our bad choices.

For Christians, though, such self-examination can end very well, even if we are totally wrong in our initial assumptions and our circumstances have little or nothing to do with bad choices or God’s displeasure. Why? Because we tend to run to God for answers in these scenarios, and if we ask God in sincerity we gain a better understanding of God’s character and our own.

The final result of trouble and failure, if taken to God in sincerity, is growth, growth of character, strength, and knowledge of God. As James told us so long ago:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 
     for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 
And let steadfastness have its full effect, 
     that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, 
     who gives generously to all without reproach,
           and it will be given him. 
James 1:2-5 [ESV]

Or Paul, when he encourages the Romans with this:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, 
     we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Through him we have also obtained access by faith 
     into this grace in which we stand, 
          and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, 
     knowing that suffering produces endurance, 
          and endurance produces character, 
               and character produces hope, 
and hope does not put us to shame, 
     because God’s love has been poured into our hearts 
          through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 
Romans 5:1-5 [ESV]

Success is a different story

When we succeed, we rarely ask ourselves the hard questions. Success does not force us into harsh self-examination or humility. Success is generally taken as a reward for good behavior, so we rarely question it. If we do examine ourselves, it is to find that thing we did that brought all this success about. We start to forget about God and look to our own skills and devices for the answer. We become idolaters, and our success affirms our faith in our idols. In the end, all idolatry is self-worship, whether it is a statue of something or someone we revere and put our hope in or the more direct and insidious idolatry of trusting our own strength, wisdom, and devices.

The problem is not new. God warned the Israelites about it as they were leaving the wilderness to enter the promised land. He told them that they were going to succeed and that all their success was the fruit of His kindness, but they needed to beware.

Reading from Deuteronomy, we see this warning:

Beware lest you say in your heart, 
     ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 
You shall remember the Lord your God, 
     for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, 
     that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, 
     as it is this day. 
And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods 
     and serve them and worship them, 
I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 
Deut 8:17-19 [ESV]

We often curse our problems and our failures, but as long as they drive us back to God, as long as they remind us of the true source of our blessings, our troubles actually help us. The real danger is success. Success flatters us and encourages us to look to ourselves and to our own efforts. Success intoxicates us and encourages us not to think at all about why we succeeded in the first place.

Are we to seek failure?

At this point, you might be wondering what I am suggesting we do. We certainly don’t seek failure, nor do we curse success. Making poor choices is certainly a very stupid course of action, as we all (hopefully) have learned by now. So what are we to do with success? The answer is pretty straightforward but easy to forget.

We handle success with thankfulness and humility. We handle it the same way we handle problems; we look to God in faith. Recognizing that while our choices have consequences, our circumstances, whether good or bad, are not the sole product of our choices. Our best efforts can fail, and tragedy can strike without warning. Comicly, at times, we can succeed through sheer ignorance as well.

God is God, and we are not. God is good even on our worst days.

The warning in success is to remember. Remember that everything we have, even if we “earned it through hard work,” is a gift from God. God gave us the health, strength, and opportunity to work. Idolatry is forgetting God and giving His credit to other things, other gods, or to our favorite false god — ourselves.

This week, let’s take the time to count all the blessings God has given us and remember — He is God, and everything we have comes from Him.

Let’s practice thankfulness together.

Have a great week!