Day 191 – Uzziah’s Life (Southern Kings 52 years)

• Back to the kings today with today’s short readings, and we’re moving on to a new king: Uzziah. If you take a look on some timelines to look for Uzziah, you may be wondering where he is; as if it wasn’t complicated enough, Uzziah is also known as Azariah. He is the son of Amaziah and the father of Jotham.
• Uzziah was another young king. Do you think you would enjoy swapping GCSEs for reigning over a kingdom?!
• Uzziah was the third in a row of “sometimes good, sometimes bad” kings. Like those before him, he started well. We see this in 2 Chronicles 26:4, and then in the description afterwards. What sort of good things did he do?
• How did God bless the kingdom, and Uzziah himself, whilst he followed God’s rule?
• How, however, did God’s blessings on him change him for the worse? Look carefully at 2 Chronicles 26:16 onward. What a challenge this is for us too! How often do we look at our successes and puff out our chests in pride, like Uzziah did?
• What wrong thing did Uzziah do in 2 Chronicles 26:16-18? Think back to the law given in the time of Moses to remember why it was wrong.
• What eventually happened to Uzziah? Why do you think the priests ran away quickly when it occurred? What did Uzziah have to do for the rest of his life?
• Can you imagine what it must have been like for a king to be forced to live a life according to the rules in the passage in Leviticus? Who helped Uzziah to rule the country during this time?
• How does Solomon remind us about the perils of living with a proud attitude in our life, in the words in the book of Proverbs?

What do you think the Christian difference is between the harmful feelings of pride and the natural pleasure we get from using our God-given gifts well and successfully? If you do well in your exams, people may tell you that you can be proud of your accomplishments, and indeed you can enjoy the rewards of your hard work. So how can pride turn into a bad thing?

The answer is when it starts to take glory away from God and gives yourself the glory instead. Pride is a dangerous, self-absorbed sin. It’s a sin because you’re making yourself number one instead of God. We can be pleased with hard work, talent and of our achievements, of course, but always with the knowledge that every good thing we have ultimately comes from God. That should lead us into a closer relationship with Him. If we’re not careful, however, casual and thoughtless pride can lead us away from our Heavenly Father.

Look for areas in your life where you are susceptible to pride, and work hard to spot it, and deal with it, when it comes.