It’s like a drug. Something that can take control. Something that muddles the thinking . . . removes reasonable inhibitions . . . and can result in stupid, stupid decisions. Not recognized, it can take you farther than you really want to go. Not held in check, it can lead to ruin. And the thing about this “destructive substance” is that it is present within me 24/7 . . . lies just below the surface . . . reminds me of it’s presence more often than I care to admit. As I read the story of another king who started well and ended not-so-well, I’m hearing the warning of the dangers of being “under the influence” of pride.

I’m reading in 2Chronicles 26 about King Uzziah. Uzziah, king at 16 years of age . . . king for 52 years . . . one of the “good guys.” Uzziah lived up to his name, “my strength is Jehovah.” He sought the Lord and the Lord prospered him. He set Himself to seek God, and God grew him into a mighty man of war. Vast army . . . leading edge military technology . . . and fame that spread far beyond the borders of Judah (26:13-15). At the top of his game. He sought God . . . he fought for God . . . and God drew alongside to secure the victories . . . to increase his strength. And then, tragically, he ended up “under the influence.”

“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.” (2Chronicles 26:16 ESV)

Give your head a shake! Really? This seeker of God . . . this king who “did right in the sight of the Lord” . . . he presumes to have attained to the privilege of the priesthood and goes traipsing into the holy place and ad libs his own incense offering. He wasn’t a son of Aaron. While God may have chosen him for the throne, it wasn’t his to take upon himself ministering in the temple. What was he thinking? What got into him? Pride!

His heart was lifted up . . . he became haughty . . . arrogant. He had become hooked on fame and recognition. It wasn’t enough of a “high” to be king . . . not enough of a “buzz” to be known far and wide as a military genius . . . he needed a next “hit” . . . needed to something to boost the ego a bit more. And so off he goes . . . arrogantly striding into the holy place. Less, I think, about trying to honor the God who favored him, but more about showing others what a really big man he was. It makes no sense apart from something taking over his reasoning . . . some powerful intoxicating substance. He overdosed on pride.

When opposed by the legitimate priests, instead of coming to his senses . . . instead of contrition and repentance . . . he becomes an “angry drunk” (26:19-20). And there was the line . . . and Uzziah stepped over it . . .

“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 . . . the LORD had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD.” (2Chronicles 26:19-21 ESV)

God sobered him up. Nailed him right between the eyes . . . literally . . . filling his forehead with an ugly skin disease . . . a visible external sign reminding him, that despite all his outward fame, there was still inward junk that made him unclean. Removed from general population . . . precluded from participating in temple worship . . . all because he allowed himself to get “under the influence.”

What a warning for me. Pride is a powerful, powerful intoxicating and controlling substance. Unchecked it can lead me down paths I would never think to go when in my right mind. And I am so aware of my ego . . . I know that all the makings of Uzziah type disaster are resident in the flesh. Oh, by the grace of God, may there be no room for pride to take over . . . may I instead be under the influence of another . . . controlled by the Spirit. My accomplishments seen as His accomplishments . . . my strengths recognized as His hand of favor . . . the only boasting being that which boasts in the cross . . . the only glory being the glory given to Him.