Until He Became Strong

Sixteen years old and king. Better than The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Uzziah was King of Judah.

Upon his father’s death, Uzziah was the people’s choice to become the tenth King of Judah. Rebuilding what had fallen during his father’s reign was a great start (2 Kings 14:21-22). Expanding the kingdom through a series of military conquests, Uzziah became famous as far away as Egypt. He strengthened and fortified the kingdom with new infrastructure. His army was highly organized and powerful, even developing impressive new weapons technology (2 Chronicles 26:6-15).

“His fame spread far and wide,” says 2 Chronicles 26:15 NIV.

And, as the HCSB translates the same verse, “He was marvelously helped.” By Sovereign God. 

Until. Until you read the next phrase, “Until he became strong.”

Reading on as the NASB translates verse 16, “But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God.”

Or as the NLT translates, “But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the Lord his God.”

Strength became arrogance. Power became pride. Arrogance and pride bred sin.

Strength and power are morally neutral; they can be agents of good or bad equally as easily. It is the person who posses them who determines their application.

Uzziah got too big for his britches. He was King. A sovereign ruler. But he defied God. The Sovereign of All Creation.

Was personal power his tipping point? Or was there more?

There was more. For a long time, but not always. A ballast. A ground. An anchor. A guide. A lesson for us.  

2 Chronicles 26:5 tells us that Uzziah “sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.”

Uzziah had accountability in the form of Zechariah the Prophet. Presumably older, Zechariah, was a mentor, a discipler, a spiritual director, and advisor to Uzziah. As long as Zechariah was around, as long as Uzziah sought a personal relationship with God, then Uzziah was prospered marvelously.

No checks, no accountability, no spiritual guidance, no Zechariah and then Uzziah—intoxicated with strength and mistaking God’s blessings for his own power—hastened his own downfall. Uzziah directly affronted God, was cursed with leprosy, and was separated from everyone for the remainder of his life. He lost his throne. He lost it all.

What can we learn from Uzziah and Zechariah?

A leader’s power is like electric power; it is destructive unless controlled.  

• What are the controls in your life?
• Who are you accountable to?
• What are you accountable to them for?
• How often do you seek accountable guidance?
• How humbly do you respond to such guidance?

You may not see yourself as powerful or strong, but you need guidance just the same. Humbly seek accountability that you might be marvelously helped.

(Image, The King Uzziah Stricken with Leprosy, Rembrandt)

I Am An Idiot

Just in case you don’t know me well. Just in case you’ve never seen me in a weaker moment. Just in case you are my Mom and think I am perfect. Just in case, let me share a story with you.

Thanks to my good buddy, Chris, speaker of Techese, I use a handy dandy app called 1Password. It’s the swiss-army knife of important electronic information. It’s an electronic wallet. It generates and keeps voluminous website logins. It auto-fills forms. It’s available for all operating systems. It works on your smartphone, your computer, or your tablet. It’s totally secure. You just have to remember one super-good master password. It’s totally awesome!

Until you forget your password.

Yes. I am an idiot.

My 1Password super-good, super-stout, super-smart master password that I use multiple time every day password. Well, I came in the other day. And it was gone from mind. Like it was erased from my memory gone.

At this point some of you are giving some grace. You are thinking, “You’re not an idiot. You’re just getting old. You just forgot. Don’t worry, it gets worse. Last week I was looking for... What was I looking for?”

The rest of you who never forget a thing, of course, are still laughing at me. Thanks for that. You'll get yours in a minute here. Anyhow... 

Chris turned me on to 1Password over a year ago, then he got a job with them about six months ago. Every day he helps folks in need of tech support (or a brain transplant) like me.

So, I decide to call Chris. He patiently walks me through minutes, then tens of minutes of diagnosis, testing, backups and trying as I type in every possible iteration of my password at his direction. He then repeatedly, yet kindly states things like, “Man this just doesn’t happen with this program. Are you sure you didn’t forget your password?” 

He then said—not directed at me I am sure, or I hope—"This app is foolproof." To which I thought, "Unless you are dealing with a fool. Like me."

It was then I began to  think back... I generated this password as an acronym of a sentence I could always remember. Bit of irony there, yes, I know. My super-good password has upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. In my minds eye, I can recall sitting at my desk trying out sentence after sentence. And it hits me, “I am forgetting the first three characters in my password! I am an idiot! I am the fool it's not proof of.”

And, just like that, all characters remembered, my fingers fly and I am back in business. 1Password open. My electronic life is saved. Yet my ego emaciated.

So, maybe I needed some humility. Maybe Chris needed a story to tell his tech buddies. Or maybe I needed some humility.

Idiocy teaches humility.

Failure teaches humility.

We need humility.

Clothe yourself with humility.

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1Peter 5:5

Do you have a story of idiocy or humility to share? Do a guy a favor and write a comment below so I am not the only one looking sad on here.

Zechariah's Prayer of Expectation

Can’t happen.

No way.

Never!

You gotta be kiddin’ me?!

Gimme a break.

Really?

Zechariah was an old man. A priest, yes, but old. Elizabeth, his wife of decades, must not have been far behind. She had been barren as a young woman. Now she was well passed child bearing age. No children had been born to them. No children would be born to them. So everyone thought.

God works in can’t and won’t. God overwhelms impossible and never. God loves the space between reasonable and unreasonable. God excels at reaching beyond possible into the impossible. God inhabits the realm beyond nature, the supernatural.

When God promises. You can trust it. 

When God says, “Can.” You ask, “When?”

When God says, “Will.” You say, “Yes!”

You can count on Him. He is God. He is Sovereign. He can do what He wants.

Zechariah is burning incense before God in the Temple. You can read this in Luke 1:5 and following. The archangel Gabriel appears. Awesome bunch angels are. They have to skip, “Hello,” and move straight to “Do not be afraid.” Gabriel tells Zechariah that Elizabeth will have a boy. A boy to be named John meaning “God has been gracious.” Oh, yes, in spite of decades of barrenness God had a special, gracious plan. A miraculous plan. John will be a powerful prophet like unto Elijah. Preparing the way for the Messiah will be John’s calling.

“How can this be?,” asks Zechariah, “I’m old. My wife is old.”

Generally, we can agree to the aphorism that “no question is a dumb question,” but I wonder if we need an exemption for questions asked in disbelief of God’s Sovereign will? Our amended rule, not so succinct, would be something like this, “No question is dumb, unless God clearly says something to you and you just as clearly think God can not do it. You’ve just called God a liar. You are in BIG trouble now, Buddy.” That’s the new rule. We’ll call it The Big Trouble Disbelief Rule. You’d do well to follow it. Unless you wanna end up like Zachariah. 

Gabriel shut him up for nine-plus months. No speech. Read Luke 1:19-20. It wasn’t until John was born and taken to be circumcised on the eighth day that Zechariah’s tongue was loosed says Luke 1:64.

When Zechariah offers his amazing praying in song, the Benedictus recorded in Luke 1:68-79, he connects it with the miraculous baby-boy bearing promise of a Sovereign God from verse 13. Zechariah offers an expectant prayer. Expectant of the Messiah. Expectant of his own miraculous son’s role as the forerunner prophet.

Expectant prayers begin with God’s promise. Not hopes. Nor wishes. Not even dreams. But God’s promise. God announced through the angel Gabriel that Zechariah and Elizabeth would have a son. They did have a son.

What is impossible in your life? Who do you think will never change? What do you think can’t happen? That is exactly where God likes to show up. Seek His will. Pray in expectation of His answer. What has God announced for you? Act in faith as He guides you. Find God’s promises for you. Live in all the He has for you.

How can this be?

God said so.

To rescue us from the hand of our enemies, to enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. Luke 1:74-75

Read or listen to this Scripture from Luke 1 in YouVersion. This post is based on the second sermon in my series, The Prayers of Christmas. You can hear the podcast here or subscribe on iTunes.

Mary's Prayer of Faith

When life is easy—no worries, no troubles, no fears—when we’ve got it under control, we don’t need faith. Faith is what you need when you can’t meet your need. Faith is power when you have no power left. Faith is hope when everything seems hopeless.

Dear Mary, young Mary, virgin Mary was approached by the angel Gabriel. Who spoke to her. Called her highly favored. Told her she was pregnant. Child conceived by the Holy Spirit. To be named God Saves. To be known as God’s Son. To be a the never-ending Messiah King. 

If ever there was a need for faith. With one phrase after another, Gabriel multiplied Mary's need. 

Me? Really? Can’t be? Are you sure? I’m Mary. I’m common. I’m no one special. I’m a virgin.

“For nothing is impossible with God,” says Gabriel (37). I love it.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered (38), “May it be to me as you have said.” I love it even more. Wow! 

Humility. Obedience. Faith. Right there. In the midst of crazy uncertainty, Mary responded with humble faith. Don’t you love it?

Don’t you wish it was true of you? 

That you could say, would say, to God, “May it be to me as you have said.” And then do your part and trust Him. Simple, right?

We need faith in impossible situations. Mary's prayer reveals the origins of faith like that. Faith from a heart reverent to God (46-47). Faith from a posture humble before God (48-49). Faith fully trusting in God’s mercy and His might (50-55).

May we ever answer Sovereign God: May it be to me as you have said. 

Read or listen to this angelic encounter of Luke 1:26-56 in YouVersion. Parenthetic references herein are verses in Luke 1. This post is based on the first of my sermons, The Prayers of Christmas. You can hear the podcast here or subscribe on iTunes.

He Knows It

Kind spirit. Broad heart. Discerning mind. Middle aged. Mentally ill. Robert we'll call him.

Robert was passed through school even though he could hardly read. And he knows it. He is on disability because he can't hold down a regular job due to his mental illness. And he knows it. He has few friends because of the way his good nature has been taken advantage of. And he knows it. He is a follower of Christ because he needed salvation from his sin. And he knows it. He has much of the Bible memorized in order to make better choices and show his love for God. And he knows it. Yet he is not a member of a local church because most Christians treat him judge him as lacking. And he knows it.

He knows he is judged. Measured as less than. Considered dependant. And he knows it.

Why?

By no fault of his own. Robert didn't choose mental illness. Who would choose such a life? He didn't. But it is his life.

As a Christ follower, I comforted and counseled Robert, while I boiled on the inside at the treatment of this dear man by so-called Christians. I want to scream to anyone listening: This is not right! He may not be who you think he should be, but he is a wonderful man! 

Robert had no harsh word for anyone. He simply stated his experience with people. Especially church people. And he used only one phrase that might sound negative. That is, if it applies to you. He said that people with jobs, particularly church people, can be so "self righteous." Just because they have a job and he doesn't, they see themselves as better than him. How does he know? Because they have told him so.

Are you a disheartened Robert? Are you a judging self-righteous? Are you an apathetic in between? Or are you a Christ follower that will meet people—every single one created in God's image—where they are at, as they are, and accept them with no self-righteousness?

Robert has been judged for who he is not. He has not been accepted for who he is.

If you are a Robert: The expectations of others do not define who you are. God alone counts.

If you are Self-righteous: You are not better than anyone due to anything. God alone judges.

What would God say of your attitude, Dear Reader? 

He knows it.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.—Philippians 2:5

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