Power and Pride
In what areas of your life do you have power?
Verse of the Day
‘But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord ’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.’
Today’s Devotional
One Day. I have been reading, researching and writing about pride for one day, and already the Lord has lovingly shown me where there are roots of pride in the soil of my heart. So buckle up, friends. If we are willing, this may be an interesting journey.
Today’s verse is about a man named Uzziah. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became the king of Judah, after his father had been assassinated. His story is recorded in chapter 26 of the book of Second Chronicles.
There are a few interesting pieces of Uzziah’s story. Look at verse 5 of this chapter: “Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success.” Zechariah was a prophet and a man of God. To make it relevant, let’s think of Zechariah as the king’s minister or spiritual advisor. So, for a while, King Uzziah was teachable.
There are many details listed in this story that outline all of the successes that Uzziah had. His accomplishments are listed. His skills and talents, the army he amassed and the weaponry that each soldier was given. He was doing so well, as long as he looked to the Lord for guidance.
If we read today’s verse carefully, we will notice that Uzziah having power was not the problem. The power was fertile soil for his pride to grow.
If you kept reading this chapter, you would see that he made a mistake. He got too big for his britches and decided to personally burn incense before the Lord, which was a job reserved for the priests at this time in history. The high priest and 80 other priests confronted Uzziah and pointed out his mistake. If he would have been correctable, this story would have turned out differently.
Uzziah was not correctable. His response was rage. The Bible says that he became furious at these priests who were trying to hold him accountable. And look what happened… “Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the Lord’s Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead.”
Leprosy. A disease that meant the rest of your life would be spent in isolation. From the most powerful man in the nation to an outcast, all because of pride. Because he thought he was entitled to burn the incense even though that was not how God had set up the system.
The power of his position got the best of him. And again, power is not the problem. It’s how we handle the power we are given. Do we remain teachable? Do we keep people around us to continually point us to God? Do we keep vigilant watch for signs of entitlement? Do we have people to hold us accountable? Do we listen to those people? Are we correctable?
I heard Beth Moore teach that there are certain lessons we want to learn by example instead of personal experience. Let’s be willing to learn from the story of Uzziah. God takes our pride very seriously, even more so when we are in a position of any kind of power. Because it affects how we lead. It affects how well we love God and how we love the people we lead.
Let’s be clear about something. It is not just kings, ministers, and CEOs that have power and should heed this warning. We all have some measure of power in some aspect of our lives. Parents have power over their children. If anyone reports to you at work, you have power. If anyone looks to you for guidance, you have power. If you have any amount of disposable income, you have power. If you interact with any other humans during the course of the day, you have power.
Let’s be honest about where we have power and influence. And please, God, help us to always seek Your guidance, to always remain teachable, to be humble with any power you have given us, and to always be correctable.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
In what areas of your life do you have power? If you don’t know, ask God to show you.
How can you seek God’s guidance today?
How can you be teachable today? Who can you seek out for spiritual guidance?
In what areas of your life might you struggle with entitlement? If you aren’t sure, ask God to show you.
What is your response when you are corrected?
Who can you invite or encourage to gently correct you as needed?
Where do you see any roots of pride in your heart?