The Successful Soul

One thing I love after worshiping God with song is how a particular tune or lyric later will reverberate through my mind.  I often find myself unwittingly singing the song long after the service has ended.  Hailing from Southern California, it seems fitting to call this effect a "worship aftershock."  Experiencing communion and fellowship in the presence of God is a blessing beyond words.

I have found when I am impacted by something it tends to be rehearsed in my mind.  For example, these memories could be a scene from a movie, a statement a person makes during a conversation, or a quote from a book I am reading.  If I can watch a movie without later reflecting on it or after reading a book no specifics high points come to mind, it obviously had little impact on me.

There was a quote of J.C. Ryle in Zeal Without Burnout by Christopher Ash which did stick with me.  Ryle said concerning "successful" Christian ministry as it appears in Zeal Without Burnout:

"Success is what all faithful labourers in the gospel field desire...All long to see Satan's kingdom pulled down, and souls converted to God...The desire is right and good...Let it...never be forgotten that the time of success is a time of danger to the Christian's soul.  The very hearts that are depressed when all things seem against them, are often unduly exalted in the day of prosperity.  Few men are like Samson, and can kill a lion without telling others of it (Judges 14:6)...Most of Christ's labourers probably have as much success as their souls can bear." (Ash, Christopher. Zeal without Burnout. Good Book, 2016. 104-05. Print.)

It is the last line which hits home.  God is gracious and blesses us with great successes, but few of them are known or easily quantifiable.  God does miraculous wonders behind the scenes and in the hearts and minds of people continually, and because they escape notice our pride is not stirred which lurks within each one of us.  How good God is to allow success to open our eyes to our tendency to boast and pride, and yet restrains us in His grace to keep us from grave harm.  Our souls can handle only so much success, and the hard times are often the forging, strengthening times so we will be able to endure success without shipwreck upon a deadly reef of pride.

It is God who brings success.  This "success" is not the quantifiable increase or profitability others will appreciate or applaud, but denotes sure success in all God has ordained us to do in due time.  It is obedience to God's Word which brings this success, as God said to Joshua in Joshua 1:8:  "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."  When we meditate on God's Word and obey Him, we will be successful.  Many successful men and women of God were deemed utter wastes and complete failures by their contemporaries, yet they had good success and were prosperous in God's view.  God's definition of success is the one which counts for eternity!