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You have surely learned through painful experience that the mountain heights of our ministry are often accompanied by deep valleys of disappointment and discouragement. What pains a leader most is the failure of the people he seeks to help—people who truly have every reason to advance. Abraham must have been deeply saddened by Lot's spiritual decline; Isaac and Rebekah were greatly pained by Esau's behavior; and Paul wept over the problems caused by the people in the Corinthian church. Even our Lord once said to his disciples, "How long shall I be with you and put up with you?" (Luke 9:41).
Phillips Brooks said the following about it:
To be a true servant of humanity always means to take on new joy and new sorrow. Both deepen continually, drawing us into an ever closer and more indissoluble bond with one another as the service becomes more thorough and spiritual. One who gives oneself to others can never be a completely sad person, but neither can one be a person of unclouded joy. (Phillips Brooks, The Influence of Jesus, London: H.R. Allenson, n.d., p. 191.)
I assume you will read this quote again, so slowly that its message sinks in. And the next time a Lot or Esau or even a Judas breaks your heart and you wonder if serving the Lord is truly worthwhile, remember what Phillips Brooks said: Service means deeper valleys of sorrow and higher mountains of joy, and often the two come together.
No one knew this better than Moses. No sooner had he led the people out of Egypt than they began to complain of thirst and then also that there was nothing to eat in the desert. The Lord made the bitter water sweet, sent them manna from heaven, and brought water out of the rock. But when Moses stayed too long with God on the mountain, they grew impatient and demanded that Aaron become their new leader and make them a new god. The result was the hideous Golden Calf and the carnal orgies that accompanied it (Exodus 32).
When he came down from the mountain, Moses displayed courageous leadership in dealing with the sins of the people, but then he had to cope with his own disappointment and sense of failure. What did he do? He immediately resumed his duties before God and interceded for the very people who had broken his heart!
God made Moses two offers: He would destroy idolatrous Israel and make Moses the patriarch of a completely new people. But Moses refused to exploit the failures of others for personal gain. He rejected both offers and asked God to forgive his people and give them another chance. Neither pride nor vindictiveness ruled his heart; instead, God saw humility and a willingness to forgive.
When Moses became discouraged by the people's behavior, he spoke to God and pleaded, "Please let me see your glory!" (Exodus 33:18). No matter how much we or our people fail, the only thing that truly matters is the glorification of God. Israel's sin gave Moses the opportunity to glorify himself, but he declined. One biblical commentator wrote: "But the true glory and holy exaltation for a person is that he should boast in you and not in himself, that he should rejoice in your name and not in his own virtues, nor that he should take pleasure in any creature except for your sake!" (Thomas à Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ, London: Oxford University Press, 1949, p. 183)
So the next time your people fail you and make you feel like you've failed, go up the mountain and ask God to show you His glory. Don't look at yourself or at the people you serve; instead, fix your gaze on God and His glory. It won't be long before you gain the perspective God expects of you. Then you'll be ready again to do what God wants you to do.
Centuries later, another servant of God went to the same mountain—discouraged because the people of Israel had disappointed him. It was the prophet Elijah, who had just won a victory on Mount Carmel, but was now on the verge of complete resignation: “It is enough!” he lamented before God. “Take my life now, O Lord, for I am no better than my ancestors! … I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty, … and I am the only one left” (1 Kings 19:4, 10).
What a difference! Moses was full of grief because the people had become faithless and fallen into idolatry, and Elijah was discouraged because the people did not turn away from idolatry despite God's judgment on Mount Carmel, and Jezebel wanted to kill him.
Do not look at yourself or at the people you serve; fix your gaze on God.
But Moses and Elijah dealt with their wounds differently. Moses saw God's glory, and seeing it gave him the renewed courage he needed to return and continue serving his people. Elijah saw only himself, and what he saw dragged him down, for the longer he gazed at it and spoke only of himself, the more he longed to give up everything. If we do not see the glory on the mountain, we will never be able to face the discouragements in the valley.
It is interesting that Moses and Elijah met on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt 17:1-8). The disappointments they had experienced in their lives were balanced out by this event: a radiant cloud of glory enveloped them, and a voice from heaven assured them that the Father was well pleased with the Son. Both beheld the glory of Jesus Christ and discussed "his departure, which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem" (Lk 9:31), noting that before his glorification came the terrible suffering on the cross. What Moses and Elijah could not achieve, Jesus would accomplish, yet they had helped to prepare the way for his victory.
In God's household, suffering and glory belong together. What God has joined together, we—you and I—should not tear apart.
Warren W. Wiersbe (1929 – 2019)
From In the Service of the Best Lord, CLV