THE PRICE OF SUCCESS

TEXT: GENESIS 26: 12-16

¹² Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. ¹³ The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵ So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. ¹⁶ Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”

As well as we all love to be successful; not all of us is ready to pay the price of being successful. There are many unpalatable situations that come with being successful- this I refer to as the “price of success.” Either you like it or not; as soon as you become successful, you will start paying the price that comes with success.

 Some of these prices are ENVY, HATRED, JEALOUSY, BACKBITING, BACK STABBING, HAVING TO LOSE CLOSE FRIENDS AND RELATIVES, and so on.

When you are at your struggling stage and trying to figure out your life, you may not encounter any problem- why?  This is because people have no reason to envy you because you have not achieved anything tangible. Nobody will oppose you because you have not made headway in your Endeavour. Rather, pity parties that are not ready to help you will be all over you.

As soon as your situation changes for better, you will also see negative changes from close friends and associates that used to pity you! You will now be wondering “are these not the people that were consoling and pitying me when I was struggling? Are these not the people hoping and praying for a change in my situation? Even your fellow believers that you pray together may end up becoming your enemies at your elevation!

Isaac came to Gerar because he had a problem of famine in his own land. He was well received in Gerar when he first arrived; he was living peacefully with the native of the land. Isaac had no problem with anybody until he became successful, the people that were friendly and accommodated him nicely suddenly turned against him in envy because the Lord has blessed him in the land.

The great lesson of this story is that you should be prepared to lose family and friends as you become successful! The people of Gerar that had loved Isaac turned to become the enemy of his progress. To truncate Isaac’s success; they filled all his father’s well with sand, even Abimelech that once gave an order to all the people of the land that nobody should molest Isaac and his wife if they don’t want to die ended up giving Isaac a “quit notice” from Gerar! This is to tell you that your friends and pity parties, those that you think are genuinely “upholding” you in prayer for a positive change in your situation may turn against you when you become successful.

To be able to stand and prevail over the devices of the enemies when you are successful, you must be sure that God is your sure foundation and stronghold. So that when the enemy comes like flood against you, the lord will fight for you and raise a standard against them on your behalf. Let God be the source of your success so that He can protect you against the enemies. Isaac was able to triumph in the midst of adversaries because it was God that blessed him. It is the blessing of God that makes riches without sorrow (Proverbs 10:22).

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