2 Chronicles 26:14-16 "And Uzziah
prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and
habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones. (15) And he made
in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the
bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far
abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. (16) But
when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he
transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to
burn incense upon the altar of incense."
There is one thing that stays with me as I make this journey through the kings
of Judah: human nature does not change. Sometimes as I read about a king I find
myself thinking, "Didn't I just write about this?" And I
realize as I think back, yes! I did just write about this. The names were
different but the nature of carnal flesh comes out and shows itself.
The Lord had blessed King Uzziah in a mighty way. Yesterday, we saw that the
Lord prospered Uzziah as long as he sought the Lord. The Lord blessed him in
the things of this life in that he was given wisdom to provide for the defense
of his kingdom. He built towers upon the wall around Jerusalem. He went
out into the land and built towers where he would set guards to sound an
advanced warning if the enemy was approaching. He provided the very latest in
technology for his army: shields spears, helmets, metal armour, bows, and
slings. There was nothing that was lacking in provision for the military. He
had his military men of intelligence invent engines (catapults) and placed them
on the wall. He could attack the enemy long before the enemy was close to the
wall. He became very famous even in other nations for his strengthening
the city.
But as we saw with a former king, Uzziah began to believe all this wisdom and
strength originated with him rather than with God. He began to think highly of
himself to the degree that he felt he could perform the duties that had been
given strictly to the priests. He decided he could go into the temple and do
those things which were a transgression against the Lord by burning incense.
This sounds like a very innocent thing to do and we hope that Uzziah had good
intentions when he went to do this. But the truth remains, God had ordained the
Levites, the priests, to perform this duty. Uzziah became a leper as a result
of his transgression. His son began to rule over the king's house even before
the death of Uzziah. We could say the kingdom was taken from him and given to
another because of his thinking too highly of himself.
What does all this have to do with us in our day? It seems just a few days ago I used the verse where Solomon warns us that pride goes before a fall. As I have been typing this morning, a passage of Scripture has been scrolling through my mind. Jesus told us very plainly that without Him, we can do nothing. I take that very seriously and I take it in both a physical and spiritual sense. When we attempt to do something that the Lord has delegated to Himself, we are setting ourselves up for failure. Remember the beginning of Uzziah: As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. The same principle applies to us today. Let us seek the Lord in all things.