The Look Of Success

“Spy out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.” Joshua 2:1

What do you think success looks like? A big bank account? A nice house and car? A thriving ministry?

Joshua sent two spies to check out the Promised Land. God had promised to give the land to Israel. But what did the spies find in Jericho? A city full of hostile people who wanted to take them by force.

I think I know a little something about how those spies must have felt.

When I arrived at the church where I now serve as senior pastor, it was a small congregation of good-hearted but wounded people. But it was not easy. About two months after we arrived, we were standing in the worship center just fifteen minutes after the end of the service. As we looked around, we realized that we were all alone. Everybody had left.

I turned around in the eerie silence, looked at my wife, and asked, “What have we done?” I had come from leading a youth ministry of 250 students who loved to be together and who had a dynamic impact on their campuses. Now I had arrived at a church afraid of influence and suspicious of newcomers.

This looked to me like anything but success.

But God had called us there, so we stayed. We continued pushing forward, doing the things we knew God wanted us to do within the congregation. Our perseverance and commitment paid off. Years later, it is the largest evangelical church in our city.

What’s your “Jericho”? Maybe your situation doesn’t look like a success right now, but if you are where God has put you, be patient and keep working. God is about to do something good for you.

Lord, help me to stay on your path of success for my life, regardless of how it looks right now.