When we are weak and have no place to turn, in humility we often turn to God. And this is pleasing to Him. God gives comfort to a humble and contrite heart. But as He delivers us, or strengthens us, we are often tempted to lose sight that the same power that strengthens us is from God. We are often tempted to lift up our hearts in pride because of our strength.
When we have the strength to do what we want, we often forget about the consequences of sin, which causes us to believe that we can do what we want to do. We need God when we need Him, but we can do what we want to do when we don’t need Him.
This cycle of need, deliverance, pride and sin repeats itself over and over in the hearts of men. But the hearts of the godly who are truly devoted to the Lord learn to give praise to God and thanks to Him when the Lord strengthens them, realizing as Job knew:
“And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21 ESV).
When we are strong, it is by God and He can remove that strength anytime He wishes. This is what happened to a godly king in Judah. When he was weak, the Lord was with him because he served the Lord. But when the Lord strengthened him, the King grew proud and began to sin against God just because he felt secure in his own strength. What a dangerous and sad place to be.
In 2 Chronicles 26, we read about King Uzziah. Listen to his fervent fear and obedience to the Lord and how the Lord strengthened him:
“He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.” (2 Chronicles 26:5 ESV).
And
“God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbaal and against the Meunites. The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong.” (2 Chronicles 26:7-8 ESV).
So, the Lord made King Uzziah very strong. What a heritage! But unlike King David, who maintained his humility before the Lord, Uzziah let the strength go to his head as though he was strong on his own account and no longer needed the Lord. What a tragic place to be.
So, Uzziah, in his own strength, decided he no longer needed to listen to the Lord:
“But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.” (2 Chronicles 26:16 ESV).
And everything that the Lord had done for him was lost in his heart. He had no place burning incense on the altar. That was for the priests of God alone to do. But he was the king! He was elevated and strong! Surely this man of fame and importance could do whatever he wished. God should be so lucky that someone as grand as he could burn his own incense on the altar.
But that is not the way that the priests of God saw it:
“But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor,
and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God.” (2 Chronicles 26:17-18 ESV).
Now, at this point, I am inclined to believe that had Uzziah humbled his heart and repented, God may have allowed him to leave with his strength intact. But that is not what happened. Rather than humble his prideful heart before God, he became angry. Anger is often the reaction of a prideful heart toward correction, isn’t it? It’s not the reaction that saves and reconciles back to God, however.
“Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense.” (2 Chronicles 26:19 ESV).
King Uzziah had to spend the rest of his life, humbled and living in a house by himself as a leper. When we are strong, how important is our pride to us? Will we let it scoff at God and cling to it, or will we be men and women who humble ourselves in our pride before the Lord?
Strength can be a great blessing from the Lord, but it can also be a devastating burden when we allow it to cause us to forget the Lord.