Can we have a real discussion about the most serious sin in the world? I'm talking about pride. For all the clamor about murder, hatred, racism, abortion, adultery, homosexuality, and others, it is very theologically sound to suggest that at the root of all other sins is the sin of pride. And yet pride is often the least talked about sin in the pulpits of today's church. Why is that? Could it be we have been successfully blinded by the god of this world who was cast out of heaven because this same sin was the root of his self-centered ambition? (see Isaiah 14:13-17).
We have seen two successive Kings in Judah watch their reigns start wonderfully and end despicably because of the sin of pride. Now it happens to Uzziah. All three of these men (Joash and Amaziah are the other two) initially set out to seek God and were tremendously blessed for doing so. This leads us to the simple conclusion that God longs to bless us in spite of where we came from or who raised us.
We begin looking at Uzziah seeing that he early on sets out to seek God in life.
2 Chronicles 26:3–5 (ESV) Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 4 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 5 He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.
Uzziah's name means "Yahweh is my strength." And he was wonderfully successful at strengthening the army of Israel. He defeated Israel's enemies and established the kingdom all around. He even advanced Israel's military with technological breakthroughs.
2 Chronicles 26:15 (ESV) In Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.
It is important that we stop here and note that Uzziah's relationship with the Lord enabled his technological breakthroughs. So often our culture loves to separate religion and science when they are meant and intended to work together. Science tells us what a thing is, religion tells us why it matters.
Uzziah's downfall begins right in the seat of his enablement, however. His military advancements must have made him feel entitled to the domain of the spiritual ministry of Israel. He makes a fatal miscalculation of his authority in verse 26:
2 Chronicles 26:16 (ESV) 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 refuses to the listen to rebuke and leprosy breaks out on his head. He is escorted to a secluded location and lives the remainder of his years in personal exile. He is yet another in the lineage of Judah's kings who let their God-given success go to their head and lead them from the Lord.
We do well to remember that Jesus modeled humility from the cradle to the grave and beyond it. He did this to show the world that pride is the antithesis of Godliness. Pride seeks to replace God with self and detaches our existence from Him who gives it.
Proverbs 16:18 (ESV) Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
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