PRIDE DESTROYS LOYALTY
“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” (2 Chronicles
26:16, ESV).
King
Uzziah began his reign “doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” However with success came pride. This pride led to his rebellion from the Lord. Pride creeps up on us so subtly that we do not
notice the change in ourselves. And once
pride has fully grown we have completely rejected following God’s commands are
destroying everything good around us.
Before
we read about King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles, we will find ourselves flabbergasted
by the disloyalty of one of the kings before him, King Joash. He too
started his Kingship ruling in the fear of the Lord but departed later on in his
rule. And as he rebelled against God he
destroyed the very family that saved his life and brought him to power. It is a great example to me in how pride in
my life will prevent me from being a loyal man.
Like I said above, when pride creeps into your life it will cause you to
destroy all things good in your life.
Below is an account of how pride will cause us to drift into something
we never want to become. May we all keep
our eyes on Jesus Christ.
Loyalty
I’m going to challenge you to read 2
Chronicles 22-24. I love reading 1-2 Kings
and 1-2 Chronicles. It shows us what
happens when one rules righteously and when one rules with an evil heart. It also shows us the downfall of men who
loved God and how that damaged not only their personal lives but also the lives
of the entire nation.
In 1 Chronicles 23 Joash is made
King. But Joash did nothing to become
King. In 1 Chronicles 22 we learn Joash’
life was saved from being slaughtered by the evil Athaliah. Athaliah was the mother of the previous King
Ahaziah. Ahaziah was killed during
battle. His mother, Athaliah, promptly
killed the entire royal family of the house of Judah so she could rule. However, the wife of priest Jehoida,
Jehoshabeath, saved a young baby boy, Joash, who belonged to the royal family, and hid him from Athaliah.
Do you see: Athaliah wanted to kill the entire royal
house so she could rule over Judah. She
succeeded but the baby that belonged to the royal family, Joash, was spared due
to the work of the priest Jehoiada and his wife Jehoshabeath.
In 1 Chronicles 23 Jehoiada
organized the revolt of the nation against the evil Athaliah and Joash is
ordained at King at seven years old.
Joash owes everything to Jehoiada and Jehoshabeath. Not only did they save him but also they
organized the revolt of the nation against Athaliah and the approval of him as
King.
In Joash’ younger years as King,
Jehoiada helped him make decisions and rule the people. God was at the center of every decision as
Jehoida sought the wisdom and counsel of the Lord. The Bible tells us that during this time he “did
what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
But Jehoida died and Joash traded in
the counsel of Jehoiada for the counsel of the evil princes of the nation. They led Joash to abandon God and pursue
other god.
AND
HERE IS THE PART THAT BAFFLES ME—In my mind, even if Joash didn’t want to
follow the ways of the Lord anymore, he still should understand that he owes
everything to Jehoiada. By the time
Joash rebelled against the Lord, Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son, was a priest. I want you to read what the Bible says:
“Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah
the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to
them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the LORD, so that
you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.’”
But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him with
stones in the court of the house of the LORD. Thus Joash the king did not
remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but
killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the LORD see and avenge!”
(2 Chronicles 24:20-22, ESV)
Can you believe that? Joash owes his life to Jehoida. But in his rebellion against God, in his
pride, he murders Jehoida’s son. Pride
destroys man’s ability to be loyal. I
ask myself: “How could this happen?”
When a person gets so far away from God and so full of himself there is
no end to the destruction he will cause, even to those whom he should be most
loyal!
I pray we guard our hearts and keep
our eyes on Jesus Christ. May our goal
be that we “do right in the eyes of the Lord” all the days of our life.
“Sin will take you farther than you want to
go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to
pay. –” R. Zaccharias
