TITLE: STAY HUMBLE WHEN YOU BECOME SUCCESSFUL

TITLE: STAY HUMBLE WHEN YOU BECOME SUCCESSFUL

SCRIPTURE:

“In Jerusalem he made devices invented for use on the towers and on the corner defenses so that soldiers could shoot arrows and hurl large stones from the walls. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.  16 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. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. 18 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. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful, and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”  19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.  21 King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house leprous, and banned from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.” (2Chronicles 26:15—21 NIV)

OBSERVATION:

            How often do people start well, humble, and willing to do anything for God but drift away from God because they have become powerful?  Power is horrible when it becomes the motivation for a prideful person.  Uzziah was doing well.  He placed his trust in God, and God blessed him.  He rebuilt Israel and was able to do so much good for his people.  Uzziah became quite an inventor of the war machine.  He had a strong military power.  His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped UNTIL he became powerful.

            What a sad commentary; right after he became powerful, HIS PRIDE led to his downfall.  Pride is often the downfall of many people who have become powerful and successful.  Uzziah’s head has gotten big.  He became a god in his own eyes.  He replaces his trust in God with his own power.  How sad it was when we started to ignore the power of pride. Pride causes us to do things we are not supposed to do as believers.  Many Christians has fallen away from the life of faith in God when they become successful and explore opportunities that will excel them to the place of power. 

            Uzziah here became prideful, and he became unfaithful to God.  This is a pattern of what pride does to a believer.  Whenever we become prideful and powerful, we stop being faithful to God.  We forget to humble ourselves and honor God.  Uzziah took on a role that he was not called to do.  He wanted to be both king and priest.  He confused his role with the role of the priest.  God is a God of order.  Uzziah was angry when he was corrected by those who served him. 

            The priest has their anointing to perform their task.  The king has his anointing to lead the people.  But a prideful person disregards all sense of orderliness and does whatever seems right in his or her own eyes.  Even the most influential person and prideful person have limits on what they can and can’t do.  God resists the proud and gives more grace to the humble.  Uzziah suffered the consequences of his pride.  There was no grace from God over him.  God did not honor him, and he died from Leprosy.  What a lesson for all of us to learn.  God has NO grace for the prideful, but he pours out grace for the humble. 

APPLICATION:

            Yesterday I learned to be careful not to do whatever seems right and clever in my own eyes.  Today, the Holy Spirit doubled down on the same message.  Do not be prideful and do whatever I think I want to do when serving God.  I want to humble myself and honor my God always.  I do not want to be prideful just because things are going well.  I want to walk with God in humility when things go very well.  I want to serve and honor him and acknowledge that he is God. 

PRAYER: 

            Father, please keep me humble.  I pray that you will continue to teach what it is to honor and glorify you in my life always.  Forgive me for my foolish pride because of things that I see as achievements from my hand.  Teach me to never fall for pride but to foster and cultivate a humble heart that honors you.  I pray this in Jesus’s name.