2 Chronicles 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
Oh Friends, another bright, beautiful day is in the offing! And wonder of wonders; it’s laden with the mercies of our most generous God! So let’s get ourselves together, obviously dressed in our spiritual armour, and get out there and fan the flames of repentance amongst the unbelievers. I know that yesterday most of us did a decent job of it, but today’s a different day, a new day, and new things are expected of us. As Louise Heath Leber rightfully declares: ‘There is always room for improvement you know- it’s the biggest room in the house.’ Yes my people, that’s the living truth. Although we’re generally doing okay, we can always do better. Hn, hn! And I can vouch for that, since on many of my report cards in high school, the principal’s standard opinion was: ‘Lazy boy. Can do better.’ Ah Friends, those were the youthful days of partying and liming. Back then books were of secondary importance. But now we’re adults in the Lord’s employ, we therefore need to promise our God, and ourselves that every day we’ll try to improve in some area. Of course criticism will come against us, but hopefully it will be mostly of the constructive variety, for which we’ll develop a listening attitude, then decide what’s best for us. Pray that we also make much better decisions than Uzziah did in his might, power and authority: ‘for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.’ Now what was Uzziah thinking eh? He very well knew that it was the priest’s duty to burn incense, their holy preserve, granted to them by the Lord. (Num.3) The only redeeming reasoning is that he probably lost his marbles, had a crazy spell. But even when Azariah, the chief priest and eighty other brave priests went in to the temple and accosted Uzziah, he didn’t listen. ‘And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord.’ (2 Chron.26:8) Deep down Uzziah knew that he was wrong, but because of his kingly status and his absolute authority therein, his anger came to the front. Oh Friends, that’s what happens when we allow Lucifer to pump his bellows on the negative aspects of pride, arrogance, might and sovereign power that occur naturally in our sinful hearts. We are then unable to resist the temptation to retaliate in a hostile, negative manner. ‘Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar.’ (2 Chron.26:19) Yes my people, our God dislikes such displays of pride and arrogance, especially when we should know better, and His displeasure will be shown in ways that we in turn dislike. Right there in front of everybody, because of his unreasonable and uncalled for anger, the Lord turned Uzziah unto a leper. Wow! Oh Friends, yuh see, our God doh make skylark nuh! And those are the things that happen when we get too big for our breeches and try to laud it over others. ‘And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they trust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted (hurried) also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.’ Yes mih people, the Lord does move in mysterious and miraculous ways. Uzziah didn’t want to listen when God’s representatives spoke to him, although he was clearly and knowingly about to do wrong, so God himself intervened. The same thing happens to us when we don’t listen Friends. The Lord will make us pay a price, and oftimes it’s a very expensive one. It brings to mind, Samuel and Saul, when Samuel told him to wait in Gilgal for seven days then he would come and offer the burnt offering to the Lord. But Saul was impatient and ordered the sacrifice made. And as luck would have it, Samuel shows up just then. He berates Saul: ‘Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.’ (1 Sam.13:13-14) That says it all Friends; when we don’t obey, we pay. Saul was the first king of Israel, but through his disobedience, lost the throne to Bruh David’s line. Bruh David himself did wrong and lost some of it too. So it’s imperative that we listen, pay attention and obey the dictates of the Lord, especially when He lifts us up to heights of glory and power. Then we have to be even more careful of how we behave, for all eyes are on us. Remember, it wasn’t so much that Bruh David did wrong with Bathsheba that annoyed the Lord, although that was a great stain on his character, but more that it gave His enemies a chance to laugh at and blaspheme His Holy Name, and that’s one thing He certainly won’t tolerate. (2 Sam.12:14) So what happened to Uzziah? The very same thing that happened to all lepers in early Jewish society. ‘And Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death, and dwelt in a several (isolated) house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.’ (2 Chron.26:21) Yes Friends, the Lord gives, gives generously too; more than we can ask or imagine, and lifts us to lofty positions of power. But He also takes it away when we abuse our God given blessings and privileges. Let’s remember that please, or else we’ll end up like many others, paying a steep price for our ungodly attitude and behaviour. Much LOVE!…if yuh doh hear…some time…some day…yuh surely going to feel…
Oh Friends, another bright, beautiful day is in the offing! And wonder of wonders; it’s laden with the mercies of our most generous God! So let’s get ourselves together, obviously dressed in our spiritual armour, and get out there and fan the flames of repentance amongst the unbelievers. I know that yesterday most of us did a decent job of it, but today’s a different day, a new day, and new things are expected of us. As Louise Heath Leber rightfully declares: ‘There is always room for improvement you know- it’s the biggest room in the house.’ Yes my people, that’s the living truth. Although we’re generally doing okay, we can always do better. Hn, hn! And I can vouch for that, since on many of my report cards in high school, the principal’s standard opinion was: ‘Lazy boy. Can do better.’ Ah Friends, those were the youthful days of partying and liming. Back then books were of secondary importance. But now we’re adults in the Lord’s employ, we therefore need to promise our God, and ourselves that every day we’ll try to improve in some area. Of course criticism will come against us, but hopefully it will be mostly of the constructive variety, for which we’ll develop a listening attitude, then decide what’s best for us. Pray that we also make much better decisions than Uzziah did in his might, power and authority: ‘for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.’ Now what was Uzziah thinking eh? He very well knew that it was the priest’s duty to burn incense, their holy preserve, granted to them by the Lord. (Num.3) The only redeeming reasoning is that he probably lost his marbles, had a crazy spell. But even when Azariah, the chief priest and eighty other brave priests went in to the temple and accosted Uzziah, he didn’t listen. ‘And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord.’ (2 Chron.26:8) Deep down Uzziah knew that he was wrong, but because of his kingly status and his absolute authority therein, his anger came to the front. Oh Friends, that’s what happens when we allow Lucifer to pump his bellows on the negative aspects of pride, arrogance, might and sovereign power that occur naturally in our sinful hearts. We are then unable to resist the temptation to retaliate in a hostile, negative manner. ‘Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar.’ (2 Chron.26:19) Yes my people, our God dislikes such displays of pride and arrogance, especially when we should know better, and His displeasure will be shown in ways that we in turn dislike. Right there in front of everybody, because of his unreasonable and uncalled for anger, the Lord turned Uzziah unto a leper. Wow! Oh Friends, yuh see, our God doh make skylark nuh! And those are the things that happen when we get too big for our breeches and try to laud it over others. ‘And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they trust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted (hurried) also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.’ Yes mih people, the Lord does move in mysterious and miraculous ways. Uzziah didn’t want to listen when God’s representatives spoke to him, although he was clearly and knowingly about to do wrong, so God himself intervened. The same thing happens to us when we don’t listen Friends. The Lord will make us pay a price, and oftimes it’s a very expensive one. It brings to mind, Samuel and Saul, when Samuel told him to wait in Gilgal for seven days then he would come and offer the burnt offering to the Lord. But Saul was impatient and ordered the sacrifice made. And as luck would have it, Samuel shows up just then. He berates Saul: ‘Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.’ (1 Sam.13:13-14) That says it all Friends; when we don’t obey, we pay. Saul was the first king of Israel, but through his disobedience, lost the throne to Bruh David’s line. Bruh David himself did wrong and lost some of it too. So it’s imperative that we listen, pay attention and obey the dictates of the Lord, especially when He lifts us up to heights of glory and power. Then we have to be even more careful of how we behave, for all eyes are on us. Remember, it wasn’t so much that Bruh David did wrong with Bathsheba that annoyed the Lord, although that was a great stain on his character, but more that it gave His enemies a chance to laugh at and blaspheme His Holy Name, and that’s one thing He certainly won’t tolerate. (2 Sam.12:14) So what happened to Uzziah? The very same thing that happened to all lepers in early Jewish society. ‘And Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death, and dwelt in a several (isolated) house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.’ (2 Chron.26:21) Yes Friends, the Lord gives, gives generously too; more than we can ask or imagine, and lifts us to lofty positions of power. But He also takes it away when we abuse our God given blessings and privileges. Let’s remember that please, or else we’ll end up like many others, paying a steep price for our ungodly attitude and behaviour. Much LOVE!…if yuh doh hear…some time…some day…yuh surely going to feel…
SCRIP-BITS 