Strong in Heart, but Weak in Spirit

Two things -- first, 52 years is a long time to rule as king and second, leprosy for the rest of his life . . . yikes! This kings of Judah each bring us important lessons about God. Uzziah teaches us what can happen when we get to comfortable with the things of God and really just forget who He is and how respectful we should be of him and his laws. So Uzziah turns out to be a great king of Judah. Not just good, but great. He really establishes Judah as a powerful presence in the land. His army is expanded and he builds incredible structures throughout the region. He gains serious respect from the surrounding countries and makes a name for himself and for Judah. He seeks after God we read "in the days of Zechariah" and clearly, God blesses him "as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. (2 Chronicles 26:5)"

So what went so terribly wrong that God curses him with Leprosy for the rest of his life. Of course we know the "actions" of Uzziah which are recorded in verses 16-19 and we can only imagine the arrogance and feeling on entitlement Uzziah must have exhibited as he insisted on burning incense in the temple. Perhaps it was the thing to do in his day by foreign rulers. Perhaps the kings of the land had every right to waltz right into their respective places of worship and make whatever ceremonial gesture they felt was appropriate. Perhaps the people considered it an honor to have the king himself show up and perform religious rites. Perhaps this was not only acceptable, but highly desirable.

Not so with God. Here comes the lesson to us -- it is dangerous to forget our place and to take the things of God so lightly. It doesn't matter what we have accomplished we can never even pretend to think we know better than God. It wasn't so much his actions in the temple which displeased God so much, but his "actions" in his heart . . .

"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." -- 2 Chronicles 26:16

When he was "strong" Uzziah was weak. Yes, that's the crux of it. We have to be very careful with this sinful nature to keep it in check when we are really strong. The temptation to forget who God is can slip up on us and how quickly we can fall spiritually.