"And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and [had] a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar." 2 Kings 26:18-19
This text came up a few weeks ago in a Sunday school lesson. It is a sobering reminder to live holy unto Christ and to remember to follow Christ. This text has been on my mind ever since.
Uzziah was a king that led Judah to a time of great revival. It says of him that,..." he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD." It also says, "as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper." (vs. 4-5) This chapter then proceeds to tell us of all the things that Uzziah did. He was a real national hero. His death even seemingly brought sorrow to the nation and the prophet Isaiah. (Isaiah 6:1)
However, something happened to Uzziah after much success was given to him. He allowed the sin of pride to invade. Somehow he began to imagine a privileged relationship with God so great that he could get away with sin. He forgot that God and His Word do not change. God is holy and sin must be overcome in our lives by the mighty power of an awesome God through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. We can never get to the place that we become too important to God's purposes in our own minds that we allow the deception of pride to topple us. We must choose to remain humble before our God. Again, we desperately need Him!
Also, Uzziah was out of place. The sin that caused leprosy was worship--it was a type of offering prayer. It was a holy thing. Yet, it was not what Uzziah was called to do. His entering into the duties reserved only for the anointed priests caused him to reap the disfavor of God. Does that mean we are not supposed to pray and worship today? Not at all. Yet we can't all be the worship leader or the pastor or whatever other position that pride tells us we are "mature" enough to handle. We must do what God calls us to do and be glad in His strength. Just a thought.
I'll share some news later.
Uzziah didn't respect the way God said to do things,and the way He was supposed to be approached at that time. The priests who knew God and were ordained to minister that way tried to warn him, the Bible says 80 valiant men! And he STILL wouldn't listen.
ReplyDeleteIts a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, when you are willingly disobeying Him.
Yes, we can all learn a lesson fron king Uzziah.
We can start out well but finish last.
Jesus said that many that are first, shall be last.
A sober warning for all of us to fear the Lord and tremble at His Word.
In the same way people used to serve him, with reverence and Godly fear.
How shall we ourselves escape, if we neglect so great a salvation.
God Bless,
Gerie