When, 163 years ago yesterday, the Confederates reached their "high water mark" during Pickett's Charge, Meade's reputation died too. Lincoln (and many others) wondered why he didn't order an immediate counterattack at Gettysburg. He was too cautious and slow -- another McClellan. This is a case of "What if?" that would never be resolved completely. Vigorously pursue the Army of Northern Virginia? Maybe you destroy their entire army. Attack before you are ready? You make the Army of the Potomac vulnerable to a Confederate counterattack. In his great book Retreat from Gettysburg, which I purchased last year, author Kent Masterson Brown writes, "Although he was being severely criticized in Washington and by some in the army for his failure to attack Lee at Williamsport, there was nothing that could have been done to prevent Lee from winning the race to the Williamsport defense line or building it."
In the final analysis, the war would not end in Pennsylvania or in Maryland for that matter. It was back to the killing fields of Virginia. Meade's gold, meanwhile, had been significantly tarnished.
Isn't it interesting how so many of our "victories" in life are almost immediately followed by catastrophes? When Becky and I were living in Basel, we decided to take a two week vacation to Greece. This would be our very first visit to this amazing country. After we arrived, I was in paradise. I mean, a Greek teacher in a place where everything was written in Greek? In addition, we were thrilled when we visited the Parthenon in Athens or the bema seat in Corinth or the famous Corinthian Canal, a sight that's almost indescribable.
Suddenly, Becky's right knee exploded. She had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis since she a teenager. Thankfully the disease had been successfully managed through steroid medications. Not this time. Her knee resembled a giant grapefruit. Immediately I arranged for an emergency flight to take us back to Basel, where Becky was admitted to the hospital. There she had her knee aspirated by a doctor who had no idea what he was doing. As he inserted the needle into her knee cap she screamed at the top of her lungs. I will never forget that. She ended up having to be hospitalized for a month as she recovered from the procedure. So much for a nice, quiet trip to Greece.
Then, I was asked to give a 3-day lectureship at a Bible school in eastern Switzerland near Lake Constance.
I worked feverishly on my talks. Not only was the subject matter a bit challenging -- New Testament textual criticism -- but I was planning on delivering my lectures in German. The day finally came for me to board my train for St. Gallen when I came down with a bad case of -- you guessed it -- laryngitis. I could barely let out a croak let alone speak to an audience of students. Needless to say, I never gave those lectures. Instead, I spent those days meeting individually with students to give them encouragement and advice in their studies -- in a whisper.
My final example comes from when I lived in Hawaii. It was summer, and my friends and I were surfing Waikiki every day. The waves were big, the wind conditions perfect. One day I had to miss the action to have my wisdom teeth removed. Well, a major infection ensued such that I couldn't even swallow, my throat was so painful. I was sent to Kaiser Hospital to be fed intravenously for a week. But for me, the hardest part was watching the waves from my 6th story hospital room that overlooked Waikiki. That was pure torture.
Navigating the valley just after a mountaintop experience is never easy. Meade's reputation as the "victor of Gettysburg" never did recover fully after he let Lee escape back into Virginia. He spent the rest of the war in the shadow of Grant. Even today he's been called the "Rodney Dangerfield" of Civil War generals -- getting no respect.
The fact is, it's very normal to experience low points in our walk with Christ. Really, it is only after coming down from the mountain that we realize we were on the mountaintop to begin with. I wonder if that makes us pray harder. I wonder if that makes us lean into the Lord harder. I wonder if this is where the deepest work of grace begins to happen in our lives.
When we experience something extraordinary or profound, let's not forget that this could lead to a greater sense of our dependence on the one who said, "My strength is made perfect in weakness."