2 Chronicles 26:5
5 He [Uzziah] set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
2 Chronicles 26:16
16 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.
Uzziah was a good king overall. He sought God (verse 5) and God blessed him greatly. But when he was successful and powerful, he became proud and thought himself above God's law. Entering the temple was an act of arrogance, and God punished him for it. I have often experienced that when things are going well then I am most likely to fall to temptation. When we are weak then we realize our humble need for God. But when we are successful it is easy to forget about God and just do things in our own strength. We think we can just go anywhere, even into a place God has commanded us not to go into (like the temple for Uzziah), and "we can handle it". But the reality is that we are not as strong and powerful as we sometimes think we are.
Lord, help me to remember my need for You, and to stay humble.
5 He [Uzziah] set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
2 Chronicles 26:16
16 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.
Uzziah was a good king overall. He sought God (verse 5) and God blessed him greatly. But when he was successful and powerful, he became proud and thought himself above God's law. Entering the temple was an act of arrogance, and God punished him for it. I have often experienced that when things are going well then I am most likely to fall to temptation. When we are weak then we realize our humble need for God. But when we are successful it is easy to forget about God and just do things in our own strength. We think we can just go anywhere, even into a place God has commanded us not to go into (like the temple for Uzziah), and "we can handle it". But the reality is that we are not as strong and powerful as we sometimes think we are.
Lord, help me to remember my need for You, and to stay humble.