Do you mean in just one night all the happiness was gone?
Eva walked briskly with a beautiful smile on her lips. She knew she had made it, being the best employee of the year was not a mean achievement in the company where she worked. It meant promotion in her job, paid vacation abroad and other
mouth-watering benefits and everybody in that company worked extra hard to achieve results that would make them the best. So, when her name was called, she had all the reasons to be proud, as she remembered how she prayed to God to be
the best.That evening she organized a party which had ‘invites only’. Cool music played in the air as a band entertained the visitors who joined to celebrate her achievement. All kinds of delicacies were served and everyone ate to their fullest. Then the
moment everyone was waiting for came; the cake cutting and dancing session. Her boyfriend then came with a glass of champagne to celebrate her victory. Eva never took alcohol or wine but, on that day, to ‘celebrate her moment’ she took the wine
as everybody cheered her and she felt on top of the world. As the dancing continued, she got very drunk and before she knew it…it was morning and she was on her boyfriends’ bed.
It now dawned to her what had happened, she was no longer the good example people were told to emulate, she had taken alcohol for the first time which resulted in breaking her virginity and more, she was not sure if she was pregnant…how could she face the people, how could she explain it to the pastor? Why did the glorious moments vanish in just one night? What went wrong, do you mean in just one night all the happiness was gone?
Do not forget what the Lord has done
Not only Eva but many of us can relate to her fate. Have you ever wondered why did my victory last for just a short period? I was at the top for just a single season and then my world came crushing. I received a lot of money but within a few days, the joy of having abandoned me and I felt poorer than before. I thought I had unlocked my door of opportunities only to find that I was still in the same struggling position. I thought I had mastered it but I have become more of a slave than before and many more which we face in life.
But taking a reflection of how we handle achievements in the eyes of unbelievers matters a lot. It’s that one place that God expects us to shine His glory and not our glory. It’s easy to do it with other people who we dance to a similar tune of salvation as we will tend not to miss the mark in the presence of fellow brethren, but with unbelievers, whose glory gets back to their hard work and personal effort, it’s so easy to be carried away by the feel-good moment and feel “it’s all because of the sleepless nights I spend planning” or other things which we associate to our success and we forget to give glory to God who made it happen and took us to the spotlight so that we can illuminate His glory to the world. We forget that God put us in such positions of favor so that the world can know of His glory.
Deuteronomy 8 reminds us not to forget what the Lord has done to us, the goodness and favor shown to our lives, and every accomplishment we have had. This is because after we get to the place of comfort and we have all we pray for, it’s in human nature to forget the process and concentrate on the achievement and speak of what we did, forgetting that even what we did God gave us the strength and soberness to do it. We can easily forget the many nights we tarry in the presence of the Lord praying for help and the tears we have shed. Once the success comes, it’s easy to forget the promises we made to God in the moments when we were so broken and live as if it never happened at all. This makes our hearts proud and we forget that it’s God who did it for us and not our human effort.
Article written by Simon Kiarie
