King Uzziah was only sixteen years old when he became king and it was recorded that he was king for 52years. That is a long time to be king over people and in my opinion isn’t an easy feat to accomplish. He wasn’t just king for a long time, he was king known for his valiance, innovation and power. He was a king committed to serve the people he was king over. It is no wonder that his fame spread through out Judah and even as far as Egypt as recorded by the bible- II Chronicles 26:15. He did not accomplish all of this by his strength, he accomplished all that he did by the marvelous help of God – II Chronicles 26:15. As often as he asked the Lord to help him, the Lord helped him and gave him guidance– II Chronicles 26:4. I find that verse of the account of his story profound and I would like us to do a spin on the verse. So if we did, it would say,”the moment king Uzziah stopped seeking God for guidance, the Lord watched him do his thing”. I wish this spin was only done on this blog post but that was actually King Uzziah’s reality after awhile of His reign. The bible tells us that the king became powerful and also became proud which led to his downfall – II Chronicles 26:16. The downfall of the king began when he started to notice how powerful he was without acknowledging the one who gave him the power. Once that seed was sown, it began to bear other fruits: pride, anger, disobedience, disrespect for authority which are all sin. And this ultimately led to his death, indeed the wages of sin is death – Romans 6:23.
King Uzziah felt so powerful that he thought he could take all laws into his hands, he took the incense and burned it in the sanctuary of the Lord. This was incense only to be burned by the priests from the lineage of Aaron. And even when he was corrected, he responded in fury and he met his water loo there. While he went back and forth with the priest, the Lord struck him with leprosy which led to his death. He had such a glorious future, that he shouldn’t have ended the way He did. He started so well and it is too sad that he allowed power get into his head.
Sadly, I have seen and I see this play out in our society today. As I write this post, a certain man in my country Nigeria comes to mind. There was a time when he was sold out to serving the people, he was the leader of a union and always wore only khaki shorts to symbolize his allegiance to the people he served. All of that tenacity and devotion to serving the people and seeing a better Nigeria looks like it became history to him now. I am not sure when every thing went down hill but all I can say is he became the Governor of a state and probably had more access to resources, influence and power than he did when he was only a union leader. He is a completely different man now, no longer the man I admired as a young girl. I have also seen and read about this sad turn around for men, women and children of God as well and it should never be the case. In this moment, right now please pause and beg God to help you finish you well like Jesus Christ. I declare by the power of God we would remain humble in God’s presence in Jesus name.
As the good Lord helps us, we should never lose the insight that we have been marvelously helped by Him. No matter how successful we become, there is always more grounds to claim and we cannot claim those grounds except by the help of God which has been there since ground zero. And even most importantly what shall it profit you and I if we gain the whole whole and lose our souls?!!!!. All of the success we may accumulate on this earth starts and ends on this earth. By the time our bodies get tired and our souls are ready to leave our mortal bodies, the life we live would determine where our souls spend eternity. A life that has rejected God and pushed Him to the back seat can never inherit the kingdom of God. A life that has lived in pride cannot inherit the kingdom of God because God resists every form of pride.
As I wrap up this blog post, let us us shift our focus to God’s mercy over apostle Paul. Apostle Paul was another man that was powerful, he walked and lived in the power of God and it perhaps was almost easy to fall off the grid of humility into pride. And so God put a thorn in his flesh which helped to remind him of his source. Apostle Paul tells us that he prayed to God three times to take away this thorn from Him but God’s response was this, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”- II Corinthians 12:9 And Apostle Paul made the resolve to boast all the more gladly about his weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on him. In my opinion, that was God’s mercy at work in apostle Paul’s life, God put that thorn in apostle Paul’s life so that he could always remember and acknowledge his weakness in the flesh and draw strength from the Lord. It may be difficult to ask God to put a thorn in our flesh, I mean none of us exactly wants pain but we can pray for the Lord to show us mercy. That regardless the heights that God helps us attain, may we stay grounded with and in the Lord.
And for my sister or brother who has gotten some form of success and suddenly do not have time for the Lord, please re-evaluate things and come back to Him. Finally, to my dear friend who is unsure or undecided about this Jesus thing, come to Him now. He wants to help you succeed the same way He helped king Uzziah succeed. Say the prayer over here and find a Jesus believing church to fellowship with or send me a direct message. 🙂