“Spending time with God is the key to our strength and success in all areas of life. Be sure that you never try to work God into your schedule, but always work your schedule around Him.”
Joyce Meyers
I’m going to cut to the chase today and give you the punch line early on. I know I’m risking you not reading the whole blog post, but hey, I’ll trust you to read on. So the secret to success is….How would you fill in the blank? What has caused you to succeed?
I Samuel 18:14 describes the secret of success for David. “In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.” Success brought David favor from the king as you read in I Samuel 18:5a. “Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army.” God’s favor upon David caused him to succeed.
Moses was aware of the same secret. In Exodus 33:15, Moses candidly spoke with God, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” Moses knew any success he would have as a leader to the Israelites solely depended upon God’s presence. What was it in Moses’ and David’s lives which made God want to be with them?
Verse 17 of Exodus 33 explains why God was willing to go with Moses. “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” God had an intimate relationship with Moses. They experienced life together and communicated with one another. Moses also pleased God by his faith and obedience. He was willing to go out on a limb with God and take risks because he knew God was trustworthy.
God said David was “a man after My own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” (Acts 13:22b) David’s obedience pleased God. He loved what God loved and hated what God hated. The common denominator David and Moses shared was an overruling passion for God.
Neither of these men were perfect, which gives me hope! They sinned and reaped grave consequences from their sin. But God knew their overriding zeal was their love for Him. These men weren’t super stars in their strength, ability or wisdom. What made them stand out was their single focused love for God which motivated them to live a life of obedience.
Francis Chan says, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” The things that matter are those that revolve around loving God. When we rest in God’s presence, success can’t help but happen.
“Those are truly great and to be reverenced that have God with them.”
Matthew Henry
Relevant Reflections:
1. Describe a time when you experienced God’s Presence and success followed.
2. In what situation like Moses, have you desperately needed God to be with you to obey Him?
3. When was the last time you sensed God’s pleasure and experienced His favor?