Uzziah - 3

In our previous post on King Uzziah of Judah we observed: “Power led to Pride, which led to disobedience, when confronted led to fury and subsequent punishment by God.”

Just a quick peak at Uzziah’s son and the fourth generation in this story. 2 Chron.27 tells us that Uzziah’s son Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king and the chapter lists his accomplishments. Verse 6: King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to live in obedience to the Lord his God. He was not a butthead! He broke the generational “but sin.”

Back to Uzziah. He pleased God. God made him very successful. He became proud, then rebellious resulting in leporsy. A number of passages speak to the destructiveness of pride. Let me ask you a question: why is God so against pride? Allow me to give you some Scripture that may help you with your answr.

Psalm 10:4 4 The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead.
Psalm 73:6 6 They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.
Prov. 2:14 Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin.
1 Jn 2:16 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.

Why does God hate pride so much? It is destructive to our dependency upon God to do “greater things through us” than what we can do ourselves. Pride tends to make us self-dependent instead of a healthy dependency on God. It also can cause us to forget our relationship with God, best described in Deut.8:11-14: Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, by forgetting to keep the laws and decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied;when you build fine homes and settle down; when your flocks and herds multiply and your silver and gold increases; then you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery, out of the land of Egypt.

Possibly you and I don’t see ourselves as cocky or prideful. But let’s check out Nancy Demoss’s list of proud peoples’ subtle characteristics and see if we have any Uzziah potential.
A proud person is quick to blame others.

Finds it difficult to share their spiritual needs with others.

Has a hard time saying, “I was wrong. Will you forgive me?”

Tends to deal in generalities when confessing their sin.

Don’t think they have anything to repent of.

Don’t think they need revival but that everyone else does.

Do any of these apply to you and me?

Key points to remember from the study of Uzziah:
God would like to give us Success (Joshua 1:8)
Pride can cause a great fall
Influence of a dad both positively and negatively
The Importance of Total Commitment to God - no butts