“You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your gentleness has made me great.” (II Samuel 22:36 NKJV).‬

Some leaders can hardly attain greatness because they lack the requisite attitudes and skills, while others who attain greatness stumble on the way for many reasons. Great men tumble from grace to grass because of several reasons some of which we have stated. The Bible has examples of many great people who failed and the causes of their failure.

Great men fail for the same reason Lucifer who was created great by God failed. Lucifer failed because of pride. Proverbs 16:18 reads, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.” Again, we read this in 2 Samuel 22:28, “You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down.” (

King Uzziah grew to become a great king in Judah because God helped him. At the pinnacle of his reign, nations brought tribute to him. His fame spread as far as Egypt. He built towers and fortified cities. His agricultural schemes thrived and flourished. He had a well equipped modernised army of three hundred and seven thousand men with five hundred and two thousand six hundred chief officials and mighty men of valour. But at some point, pride set in and his heart was lifted. This led to his fall. “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.” (2 Chronicles‬

Sin and disobedience to God’s commandments led to the fall of king Ahab and many other kings in Israel. Solomon’s life presents us with a challenge and a warning: success can be more dangerous for us than failure. Solomon did much that was right. He was highly successful – the richest and wisest king of his day. Everyone wanted to meet him and ‘hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.’ In twenty years, he had built the temple and his palace. The Queen of Sheba was astonished by what she saw during her visit. She recognised it could only be God. Yet, the tragedy is that Solomon did not finish well. He was led astray. His ‘heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been… his heart had turned away from the Lord’ (1 kings 11:4,9).

It started with promiscuity. King Solomon was obsessed with sex: ‘He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines – a thousand women in all!’ (v.3, MSG). It ended with the following of detestable gods: ‘As Solomon grew older, his wives beguiled him with their alien gods’ (4a, MSG). He acted contrary to the Lord’s explicit command that the king ‘must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.’ (Deuteronomy 17:17). All these led Solomon astray.

Those who fake greatness never attain it. Simon of Samaria was one example. He claimed to be great when he was not one. He ended in ignominy. “But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practised sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” (Acts‬

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