Gone to the Head

OT: 2 Chronicles 26
NT: Romans 12:3-13

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2 Chronicles 26:1-2, 15-17 — Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his fathers. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful. But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in.

If it is true that when we are weak, we are strong (2 Cor. 13); then it must also be true that when we are strong, we are weak. It is during times of great spiritual highs and perfect contentment in life that temptation often rears its ugly head and we fall prey. I know this is certainly true in my own life. Uzziah was a good king who, like Solomon, went bad in his later years. He was a strong king -- had everything going for him. But good times tend to cause us to forget that we are weak vessels who need the constant grace and strength of the Lord to make it through each day. And times of prosperity tend to cause us to forget the Giver of all good things.

Things were going so well for Uzziah that he forgot that there was a source for all his fortune. He forgot that the Lord had ordained places for the kings and for the priests and those duties were not to cross. It was the priests who ministered at the Temple. It was the priests who burned incense on the altars inside the Most Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Uzziah decided, for whatever reason, to do the incense burning himself, so he marched right in to the Temple's second holiest room, followed quickly by a panicked high preist and 80 of his sort. The king could not offer insence, so the priests stepped in. As the story unfolds, Uzziah was punished by God with leprosy when he entered. The good king had lost his place and his prosperity had gone to his head. Has your good fortune also gone to your head? Have you thanked God for your possessions and your family? Are you living a life of thankfulness and gratitude, or are you forgetting the Giver of all good things?

Be God's.