We have a saying that there is a right way to do something and there is a wrong way to do something. In 2 Chronicles 26-27 we are going to read about the reign of two kings. Their respective reigns will show that there is a right way and a wrong way to serve the Lord.
Prospering (2 Chronicles 26:1-15)
Chapter 26 begins by telling us that Uzziah has ascended to the throne after the death of his father, Amaziah. We are told that he did right in the sight of the Lord, like his father. The theme of these two chapters that the Chronicler wants us to pay careful attention to is found in 2 Chronicles 26:5. Uzziah set himself to seek God during the days of Zechariah. Zechariah instructed Uzziah in the fear of God. As long as Uzziah was seeking the Lord, God made him prosper. This point is proven in the next few verses. Uzziah goes to war against the Philistines, a long time oppressors of God’s people, and Uzziah is victorious. Notice the language in verse 7. “God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbaal and against the Meunites.” The Ammonites begin to pay tribute to Uzziah and Uzziah’s fame spread all the way to Egypt because he had become very powerful. Uzziah further experiences the blessings of seeking the Lord in restoring Judah. In verses 9-10 we read about restoration work and fortification in Jerusalem. In verses 11-13 we read about the powerful army that Uzziah had under his command. In verses 14-15 we read about how his army was well equipped for battle. Listen to how this section ends at the end of verse 15. “And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.” Uzziah is serving the Lord and the Lord is helping him and blessing him. What we are reading with Uzziah sounds similar to the reign of Solomon where oppressive nations are being subjugated, Judah is being restored, and his strength and fame are spreading outside the boundaries of his nation. But verse 15 ended with some ominous words. God was wondrously and marvelously helping Uzziah “until he was strong.”
Pride (2 Chronicles 26:16-23)
Listen to what we are told at the beginning of 2 Chronicles 26:16. “But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction.” Just let those words sink in for a moment. How many times do we read about success leading to pride? How many times did God warn his people that he will bless them but you must be careful about becoming proud? The scriptures are very clear about what the result of pride will be. Proverbs 11:2 says that when pride comes, then comes disgrace. Proverbs 16:18 says that pride goes before destruction. Proverbs 29:23 says that your pride will bring you low. Now it is easy to believe that we do not have the problem of pride. But the Chronicler is showing us a really important picture of pride. Pride is simply forgetting God. The problem for Uzziah is not success. The problem is that he forgot who gave him his success. The problem of pride forgets why we are in the position we are in, why we have the blessings we enjoy, and who has given us everything in this life. But this is the danger of success and prosperity. Prosperity tempts us to forget God. It is important to think about how we are tempted to leave God when we are suffering and when we are successful. Satan has two tools at his disposal. In the book of Job we read about how Satan used suffering to try to destroy Job and destroy his faithfulness. Here in 2 Chronicles 26 we read about how success is being used to try to destroy Uzziah and his faithfulness. So how can we see the fruit of pride? We are going to witness the fruit of pride in two ways with Uzziah. Let’s keep reading what he does.
In 2 Chronicles 26:16 we see Uzziah be unfaithful to the Lord by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar. This is a clear and direct violation of God’s command. Only the priests of God were allowed to enter into the temple to burn incense and offer sacrifices. In verse 17 we see Azariah the priest gathers 80 priests of the Lord and take their stand against Uzziah. These are courageous men to take their stand against the king. They tell Uzziah in verse 18 that it is not right for you to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests are to do this. Leave the temple because you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God. I want us to see that the first observable fruit of pride is thinking you can do whatever you want. Pride says that the rules do not apply to me. Pride says that I know what the word of the Lord is but I will not do it. It is our pride that ignores the commands of the Lord. When we choose to sin, we need to carefully look at ourselves and note that there is pride as a root in our heart, moving us to decide to listen to ourselves rather than listen to the Lord.
But we need to keep reading to see the second observable fruit of pride. Look at Uzziah’s response in verse 19. “Then Uzziah became angry.” Uzziah is not fill with remorse. Uzziah is not filled with repentance. Uzziah is filled with anger. I want us to notice the key detail of this account in verse 19. Notice when the leprosy broke out on Uzziah. The leprosy broke out “when he became angry with the priests” (2 Chronicles 26:19). It was not when Uzziah ran into the temple. It was not when he started to burn the incense. The leprosy broke out when he got angry with the message the priests delivered to him about his sin. God gave him a chance to listen to the message, repent, and walk out of the temple. But pride was the reason he did not listen and pride was the reason he was angry when he was told he was doing wrong.
Friends, this is why pride leads to destruction. Pride leads to our destruction because we do what we want and will not listen to correction. Pride will not turn in repentance. Pride will not yield when confronted. What pride does is it stiffens up and resists anyone telling us that the choices we are making are sinful. This destruction is observed in the life of Uzziah in the final verses of this chapter. The priests quickly rush Uzziah out of the temple when God struck him with leprosy and he lived with leprosy, separated from everyone until the day of his death. Pride destroyed Uzziah.
Faithfulness (2 Chronicles 27:1-9)
This leads us to the reign of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, in 2 Chronicles 27. The record of his reign is very short. We are told in verse 2 that he also did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Now if this was the end of the sentence then we would know that this would also be a troubling reign. But notice how the rest of verse 2 concludes. Jotham did right in the eyes of the Lord like his father Uzziah, EXCEPT he did not enter the temple of the Lord. Notice the result of Jotham serving the Lord and learning from the error of his father. In verses 3-4 we see Jotham able to restore the temple of the Lord and the towns in Judah. In verse 5 we see that Jotham prevailed in battle over the Ammonites and they paid him tribute. Listen to the words of verse 7. “So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God.” But there is no caveat with Jotham. When we read this with Uzziah, he became strong and pride became his downfall. But when Jotham became strong, he continued to ordered his steps before the Lord.
Stay In Your Lane
We use the phrase “stay in your lane” to refer to people who are going outside of their realm of knowledge, experience, or ability. If I were to try to tell the CEO of Amazon how to do his job, he would want to tell me to stay in my lane. I don’t know what I am talking about. I don’t know what I don’t know. So I want to draw two points about how the Chronicler is teaching us to stay in our lane because pride is the reason we leave the lane given to us.
First, Uzziah did not stay in his lane when he went into the temple. That was not a job for him but was a work that was reserved for the priests. But in the scriptures this a common problem of people not staying in their respective lane of work given to them. When Nadab and Abihu, priests of God, used unauthorized fire for the altar of incense and were killed by God for their error. Korah rebelled against Moses and Aaron, saying that those men had gone too far (cf. Numbers 16:3). Korah and 250 chief men said that God was with them too and they could do the same things. They said that we are all holy and how dare Moses and Aaron exalt themselves above the assembly. In the end, the 250 men burning incense were consumed by fire and Korah and all associated with his house were swallowed up in the earth. Pride is the cause of jealousy and division. Pride is the cause of rivalry and strife. Perhaps on of the reasons God has determined that there are roles within the local church for men and women, for elders, deacons, and preachers is so we will show our humility with our God-given role and stay in our lane. When there is strife between elders and the church, or deacons with elders, or elders with deacons, or preachers with elders, or preachers with the church, or any other combination, then the problem we will see at the root of it all is a lack of humility. Pride says that I should be doing what you are doing. Humility is glad to see others excelling at the gift they have and seek to support that work while doing their own work for the Lord.
Second, staying in our lane means that we will maintain godliness and faithfulness when experiencing God’s blessings in our lives while staying open to correction. The worst thing we can do is to close ourselves off to the wise, godly counsel and instruction of others. We must not allow success and prosperity to become the fertile soil to grow pride in our hearts. Everything about our lives is from God. We must remember what the apostle Paul taught the Athenians about the Lord God that they did not know.
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. (Acts 17:24-25 ESV)
We must remember that God gets the credit for everything we have and everything we have done. Our abilities are gifts from God. Our wealth is a gift from God. Our family is a gift from God. This church is a gift from God. Our prosperity and success must move us to be more thankful to God rather than acting self-sufficient. God’s blessings must move us closer to him. Otherwise we are not staying in our lane and we are indicating that it is all us, and not all God.