Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional by Kenton Cheek

7 July 2024

Reading From II Kings 15, II Chronicles 26

 ^“But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.

King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house—leprous, and banned from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.”

–II Chronicles 26:16-21

     This form of pride is not unique to King Uzziah.  It is common for people, when they become wealthy or powerful or both, to believe that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want to do it.  In ancient Israel, worship in the Tabernacle and subsequently the Temple was to be done by those anointed, consecrated and trained in ministering to and guiding the people.  There was a kind of separation between temple and state.  Different people had different roles and those were to be respected.

     Even today, no matter the individual’s socio-economic status, there is a brazen belief that God can be approached in whatever way the person wants to.  While I do belief in religious freedom and that we should allow people to worship according to the dictates of their own consciences, The Great I AM is to be worshipped in accordance with His own decrees, not ours.  

     As His followers, we cannot and should not expect those who do not believe in Him or serve Him to behave as though they do.  But when anyone has a desire to believe in and commit themselves to His ways, then we must approach Him and obey Him on His terms.  Our obedience is out of love and not compulsion and we ought to pray that God would rid us of our pride.

“O Most High, You are God and we are not.  Reveal Yourself to us in power and glory.  Guide us with Your loving kindness to repentance and inspire us with love to lead holy lives, pleasing in Your sight.  I pray that You would bring humility to our faith journeys.  May we surrender to Your will.  Have Your way in our lives, we humbly pray.  Amen.”

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

–James 4:7-10