Humility and Success
By Beverly Carradine
Elijah Passed the Test of Success
The prophet had won a great victory on Mount Carmel. The fire had fallen, he had been vindicated and honored by God, the people were convinced, and the prophets of Baal had been slain by the hundreds. Through all this amazing success he kept in his proper place before God. He was humble and true as ever and went from this triumph to another on the brow of the mountain, where he pleaded with the Lord and received rain for the parched country. He stood the test of success. Not all can stand the test of success. Many have gone down under it, and many more will yet do so. Some Christians lose their heads immediately upon a first clearly marked success. Others run well for a while, and then, as victory after victory comes to them on different lines of the Christian life, they begin to falter, totter, and then topple from their high attainments and close walk with God. They went up the ladder of temporal promotion too rapidly. The elevation was so sudden, and the position so lofty, as to create dizziness.
The Loss of Humility
Frequent success in the work of the Lord brought about public praise, newspaper notices, various kinds of compliments, which at last sapped the strength, stole away the humility, and destroyed the power of one of God's devoted servants. The harm was not all done at once, but spiritual people could see the damage being inflicted, and beheld it with intense sorrow. The man once so humble, developed spiritual pride before he was aware of it. He can no longer endure contradiction. He finds it difficult to pardon a criticism passed on himself or work. He has a keen relish for praise; it is like incense in his nostrils. He does not care to hear others complimented; it is wearisome to him. He wants the censer swung before him mainly, if not altogether Time was that newspaper notices humbled him, but now he carefully cuts them out or sends marked copies of the paper to individuals or to others papers, that the echo of his greatness might dwell long in the land.
