Strong to Leprous

II Chron. 26:16

But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

 

Uzziah became king when he was only 16 and reigned 52 years. As a young man, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord because he set himself to seek God. What a great statement! He had purposed to seek God and followed through on that purpose. Secondly, he had a wise counselor, Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. What a great decision! He listened carefully and obeyed. He was not heady and did not think he knew best, but he trusted his spiritual counselor. What were the results of these two choices? As long as he sought the Lord,  he prospered. Wouldn't prosperity be a reassurance that his choices were right? Wouldn't that influence a person to continue on in this way? Well it did for awhile. Among his mighty exploits were the defeat of the Philistines. He built cities, towers in Jerusalem and the wilderness, and engines on the towers. He also had farmers and vine dressers in the hills and fertile lands, for he loved the soil. He had an army of soldiers ready for war that included 2600 mighty men and equipped them with all that they would need. In fact, he accomplished so much that his fame spread far and wide. Fame is a killer or wisdom! All this happened until he was strong. Sadly, when he was strong, he thought he could do it all by himself.

In fact, he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense, but Azariah the priest stopped him. He must not do what only the priests could do. He told Uzziah to leave for he had done wrong. But by now Uzziah was not in the listening mode, instead he got angry! It was an anger that was life-changing. At that moment of anger, he broke out in leprosy! The Lord spoke in such a way that Uzziah had to hear him. King Uzziah was a leper until the day that he died. He had to live in a separate house and was excluded from the house of the Lord. Jotham his son took over the kingship and governed the land. How sad when pride determines the life!

 

Father,

Keep me ever listening to you. Reveal any pride to me so that I might confess and get rid of it.

In Jesus name,

Amen