I Chronicles 26:16 states, “But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.”
A dad and his little boy were late to church. The dad drove over the speed limit, failed to signal for lane changes and ran a stop sign. At the church, he grabbed his son’s hand and hurried into the foyer. The usher found them a place in the crowded congregation. When seated, the dad whispered to his son, “Did you see the dirty look the usher gave me?” The boy said back, “Dad you had that look before we came in.” (Old joke.)
In the text today, we have a picture of King Uzziah entering into the Lord’s temple and making a fool of himself. He was raised in a king’s home. (I was raised in a Christian home, as you may have been.) In the king’s house, Amaziah, his father, started out his rule doing, “…that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart” (IIChronicles 25:2). A perfect heart is so important. God’s call to holiness is a call for a perfect heart. Doing right is not enough. The Scripture notes that Amaziah did not have a perfect heart. He finally turned away, “…from following the Lord” (II Chronicles 25:27). Part of his falling away involved worshipping other gods and burning incense unto them (I Chronicles 25:14).
Coming from the home he did, Uzziah did many right things. II Chronicles 26:5 says, “…as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.” In seeking the Lord, he became very strong. His fall started in his heart. The text says, “…his heart was lifted up to his destruction.” From a humble, seeking heart to a proud, selfish heart, he decided to burn incense in the temple on the incense altar. The priest, Azariah, along with eighty other priests, tried to stop him. It was only for a consecrated priest to burn the incense. They weren’t able to stop him. In anger, he picked up the censor to light the incense. However, it never happened. The Lord instantly struck him with leprosy in his forehead. He was quickly ushered out of the temple by the priests and of his own accord. He lived in a house for lepers the rest of his days.
There are a number of lessons we can learn from the text: Our own strength can be our downfall, bad things can happen in church, leaders are not always right, the church is God’s house, and Jesus said He would build His church (Matthew 16:18).
As the little boy in our illustration saw his daddy’s dirty look, Uzziah’s son, Jotham, saw the leprosy on his dad’s face for years. Though Uzziah was still king, his son carried out his orders and did his bidding.
When it was Jotham’s turn to reign, he was determined not to go into the temple and try offering incense. He chose to live God’s way. II Chronicles 27:6 states, “So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.”
Doing right without a perfect heart will finally fail. Jesus wants to be in our heart, not outside knocking. We will never be strong enough on our own. When Uzziah went into the temple the priests could immediately see he was up to no good. He had that dirty look on his face. He fooled no one, but became a fool. Let us prepare our ways before the Lord. When Satan calls, don’t even go there!
