Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Reading for today: 2 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 26

Uzziah had the problem of being too successful. We see this happening time and time again in our culture, where someone rises to fame and fortune too quickly and they just can’t handle it, actors and athletes, politicians and celebrities. We see it happen all too often. When everyone around you keeps telling you how amazing and wonderful you are, it is too easy to start believing them and if you never have anyone tell you “no”, if you are surrounded only by “yes” people, then it is doubly hard to stay grounded and humble. Pride will get you in a lot of trouble. Too many times celebrities die at an early age, or spend years in rehab. A talented life, wasted.

Uzziah began his reign well enough. He started out as a faithful and godly ruler. It looked like he was going to lead Judah back to God, which brought God’s blessings on them as a nation.

But as the years passed, as God blessed Uzziah, he started allowing pride to find a way into his heart. Somewhere among all the blessings he had received, he lost sight of the fact that God was the source of his success, his power, his fame and wealth.

Pride is a killer, it will kill your spiritual growth. It will kill your intimacy with the Lord. Why is pride so detrimental to your spiritual life? Because it moves our focus from Jesus and puts in on ourselves. (Prov 16:18)

Uzziah thought he was better than everyone else. I applaud the priests who confronted him, it would have been a very difficult thing to do, to stand up to a king. But all pride got Uzziah was leprosy, a disease that cuts you off from the rest of the population. A disease, that is very humbling. As you look at Uzziah’s life be fully aware that God’s blessings can have the unintended result of pride, if we aren’t careful.

Blessings
Pastor Kathy