The Lodestar

Personal success can be both exhilarating and blinding, making it easy to lose perspective. Sometimes, a major failure can bring us back to reality and help us see the truth.

The Psalmist describes how God rescued him from a near-death situation. He sang this thanksgiving song when the Lord rescued him in answer to his desperate cry for deliverance.

This godly person is honest in acknowledging God, who rescued him, and reveals how he got into trouble.

When he reached the highest pedestal of success, prosperity, and whatever people of this world aspire for, he was arrogant enough to think that nothing could stop him from achieving more. He had forgotten that all he had accomplished and that his current stability was in God's favour.

Now, it was God’s turn to return him to his senses, which he did by shattering him. But when he cried out to God from the ash heap of losses, having come to his mind that the secret of his success is God, God stretched out his hands to pull him out. So, he could sing, “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy” (Psa 30:11).

God resists the proud, but he is there for those who humble themselves and always seek his help.

Do not let success blind you to the One who makes it possible. Humble yourself before God, acknowledge his hand in your achievements, and seek him always—so that in both triumph and trial, He may lead you to true joy.