Lessons from Uzziah

Today, as I was studying the Bible from the book of 2 Chronicles, the Lord taught me some important lessons. I was so much enlightened to see what God did with His people and how He did it. Today, He is still doing His work with the same principle. 

Uzziah was made king at the early age of sixteen. Initially, he did what was right in sight of Jehovah and he set himself to seek after God. But the Bible also says, "As long as he sought after Jehovah, God caused him to prosper." Meaning, if he did not seek God, he may not be prosperous. This was conditional. So, Uzziah sought God and was blessed.

2Ch 26:3Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jechiliah, from Jerusalem.
2Ch 26:4And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Amaziah his father had done.
2Ch 26:5And he set himself to seek after God during the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God; and as long as he sought after Jehovah, God caused him to prosper.
2Ch 26:6And he went out and waged war against the Philistines. And he broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in the vicinity of Ashdod and among the Philistines.
2Ch 26:7And God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who dwelt in Gur-baal and against the Meunim.
2Ch 26:15And in Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and at the corners for shooting with arrows and great stones. And his fame went out far abroad, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.

But what alarmed me was what happened to Uzziah after he was blessed by God. He became proud and he trespassed against God. No doubt, he was the king but he overstepped his function. He presumed authority over the services in the temple and arrogantly tried to burn incense upon the altar which was ordained only for the designated priests. The result was, he was judged by God and became leprous until the day of his death and was also cut off from the house of Jehovah. What a terrible ending! What a warning we have to pay heed to!

2Ch 26:16But when he had become strong, his heart became uplifted, to his own destruction. And he trespassed against Jehovah his God and went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the incense altar.
2Ch 26:17And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with Azariah were eighty priests of Jehovah who were valiant men.
2Ch 26:18And they withstood Uzziah the king and said to him, It does not belong to you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Jehovah, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed and there will be no honor for you from Jehovah God.
2Ch 26:19Then Uzziah became angry, and in his hand was a censer for burning incense. And when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah beside the incense altar.
2Ch 26:20And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there he was, leprous on his forehead; and they rushed him out of there, and he himself also hurried out to go out, for Jehovah had stricken him.
2Ch 26:21So Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death; and he dwelt in a separate house as a leper, for he was cut off from the house of Jehovah. And Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.

Learning these spiritual lessons from the life of Uzziah, I humble myself before God and pray for His mercy that by His grace, I may be preserved in humility and stay within the boundary God has drawn for my spiritual function. Especially, when there are blessings or successes, I must be much more exercised and walk in humility. I must take the Lord as my grace to not overstep my function nor presume to be somebody at all. I must stay within my limit and just be what He wants me to be. What He graces me, that is the best, and I shall seek for nothing more or nothing less. He knows the best.

Lord, preserve me by Your grace, in success or in failure, at hard times or good times, to always seek after You and never overstep my function.