Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you discovered the danger of PRIDE? There’s a huge difference between confidence or confident courage and pride isn’t there? All of us can sense pride in other people. We can hear it in their choice of words or their tone of voice. We can see it in the look on their face or their body language. We can watch it in their choices and we sense it in their attitudes. So may I ask you… what is your normal response when you sense pride in someone else? Are you attracted to them or repulsed by their pride? Here’s a more important question: are you as quick to detect PRIDE in yourself as you are detecting it in others? If your honest answer is NO, can you probe more deeply to discern WHY you sense pride in others more easily than you sense pride in yourself?
Yesterday I left you in the great city of Jerusalem shortly after the inauguration of 16 year old Uzziah into the kingship of the southern kingdom Judah, in about 790bc. Uzziah’s most trusted advisor was a man of God named Zechariah. Amazingly King Uzziah reigned in Jerusalem 52 years! Yes that’s right, more than 5 decades!! For the majority of that long time with careful attention to the counsel of Zechariah.
The hand of God’s blessing and protection was very obviously upon the kingdom of Judah and King Uzziah’s leadership. By every measure his leadership was successful and it was a great time to be alive in and around Jerusalem! (2 Chron. 26:3-5) Uzziah was an unusually good leader and he encouraged creative innovation from many in his kingdom which all contributed to their success. (2 Chron. 26:9-15)
As long as Uzziah respected and followed the wise counsel of Zechariah, his godly advisor ,and Uzziah also sought to nurture his relationship with and obedience to God, he prospered. (2 Chron. 26:5) But as with all of us, Zechariah aged and finally died. Then things began to unravel for Uzziah, for evidently there was not a succession plan for godly advisors to the king and no one is named as replacing Zechariah.
Without that influence, Uzziah evidently became more vulnerable to secular advisors who naturally urged him to self-reliance, self-advancement and increasingly pride began to take root in King Uzziah’s heart. Here’s a fundamental principle for life, friends: God cannot and will not bless PRIDE! God spoke- this warning to all HIs people, but especially leaders, through Isaiah His prophet: “I am the LORD; that is My Name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.” (Is. 41:8) Do you believe it? Have you found it to be true in your life?
God had challenged King Solomon to write these powerful proverbs of truth several generations before. I wonder if after the death of Zechariah, Uzziah simply stopped reading the precious scrolls of God’s Words?:
Prov. 8:13 “To fear the LORD is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”
Prov. 11:2,3 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”
Prov.12:15 “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice… the words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
Prov. 16:5,18 “The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished…. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.“
Sometime after Zechariah died, this summary statement says it all: “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.” (2 Chron. 26:16) Now perhaps the matter of burning incense on the altar sounds insignificant, but it wasn’t!
All the way back to the days of Moses and Aaron, when God designed the Tabernacle and later the Temple, the “Holy Place” contained the Golden Lampstands, the Table of Shewbread and the Altar of Incense. That Altar stood facing the veil which separated the Most Holy Place, with the Ark of the Covenant, from the Holy Place. Daily one particular priest was permitted to enter the Holy Place in the morning and then again in the evening, with fresh hot coals and incense. After cleaning the altar from old ashes, he dumped the hot coals on the altar and sprinkled fresh incense on the coals. As the delicious smelling smoke wafted up, the priest prayed… for himself, his family, his tribe and the people of Israel as a whole.
It was considered a sacred privilege and by God’s instructions it was reserved for priests who had consecrated and prepared themselves for this remarkable privilege. While the King was the most important political and governance official in Israel he was not permitted into the Holy Place of the Temple, that was reserved for sacred men of God. Uzziah’s entrance into the Holy Place was therefore a mockery of God, a defilement of that sacred Holy Place, and a prideful overstep of his role of kingship in Israel.
The record is clear about the rightful response of the priests in seeking to protect the integrity of the Temple Holy Place: “Azariah the 80 other courageous priests of the LORD followed King Uzziah into the Temple. They confronted King Uzziah and said, ‘It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense to the LORD. Leave the sanctuary for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God!” (2 Chron. 26:17,18)
None of us can imagine the tension, the anxiety and fear, the courage with which these priests confronted their King! But their charge was to protect WITH THEIR LIVES the integrity of the Temple Holy Place and Temple sacred functions. They entrusted their lives to God in that moment, fully expecting the King might declare their death warrant.
Let’s pause here and tomorrow we’ll return to see what amazing thing happened in that sacred place, in that frightening moment! For now, let’s ponder the destructive, damaging, decaying power of PRIDE in the human spirit and I invite us each to look closely into our hearts. Any evidence of pride taking root? Oh my, I have found a wonderful song for today from the family producing “Sounds Like Reign”. Listen carefully as this Dad leads his two sons in a powerful song of commitment to Jesus! …
Today’s Scripture: 2 Chronicles 26:16-18.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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