The story of Uzziah gave me pause. He was a good king who gained a lot of power to himself for serving the Lord. He was easily able to win battles and such. As good as he was, he apparently lacked humility which is very important to God. Proudly, he walked into the house of God, and began burning incense. This is not his responsibility but that of the priests. When they asked him to get out, he got angry.
Stranding right there in front of everyone, he turned into a leper. Can you imagine what that would have looked like? This incident may have inspired a couple of scenes in the Indiana Jones films, like the scene with the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant. That's what it reminded me of.
Hezekiah brought about a revival of Israel, re-opening the house of God after it had been forsaken. He whipped the country back into shape and ended up being one of the best kings they ever had. But then right after him was Manasseh who was basically the worst they ever had.
Manasseh's description of king sounds like I am reading about the occult. He did it all. He even set up alters for what the Bible revers to as "the host of all of heaven." I looked up what that meant, and that basically means he was worshipping angels. I kind of all ready knew that, and it's good that the Bible actually says it. He does get humbled though and serves God in the end,
Josiah was like the last hurrah before Israel sort of just crashed and burned in a whimper. Everything in the last chapter is bad. It's just one giant decline as God turns away from his people. But at the very last moment, a man's name is mentioned which got me a bit stirred up. His name was Cyrus.
I only recommend "Chronicles II" if you need a bit more context for the "Kings" books. Otherwise, it is a bit like treading over old ground. Happy to move on from this one. I need something fresh.
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Pride offends the Holy Spirit, because pride is insincere. It is self-love at the expense of honesty. Like Lucifer, Uzziah was on good terms with God and was glorified by God. When the glory was corrupted into pride, God turned the glory to shame, thus, shaming the proud.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that he did this, because he was such a strong leader up to that point.
DeleteUzziah fell short when he was filled with pride and assumed he was worthy to do the work of a priest. Pride is always a false notion that leads to destruction. People forget we are not the source of anything, we are from God so the glory belongs to God in all things. Interesting about Manasseh worshiping the Angelic Host, but predicable as it seems to be the default every time a revival happens things eventually fall back to the default of idol worship. I feel for God in his disappointment and frustrations.
ReplyDeleteFrom reading this book, it feels like everyone falls short. It's rather depressing how far they go before it happens.
DeleteThe proud place themselves above everyone else. They may start out with good intentions, but that is not where they end. Never sacrifice what is best for what you prefer.
ReplyDeleteGod appreciates humility.
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