“Pride comes before the fall”—Proverb 16:18 Another translation adds the attitude before falling; “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. (NKJV)

Pride tarnishes all the good done through us by God when we think we did all by ourselves.  Watch a toddler learning to walk.  At first, toddlers cling tightly to the hand of the one keeping them upright and steady in their attempts to walk. They learn soon to reach out to things in the room they think are stable and strong enough to help them rise up and walk on their own.  Later the learn to walk on their own—unassisted.  They walk confidently. When a parent tries to lead them from danger or a fall; they arrogantly tell them, “No, I do it myself.” The toddler wants to not only walk but run without holding anyone’s hand.  We all know what happens next—they fall.

Sometimes in our growing and maturing faith, we act like a bunch of spiritual toddlers!  We become so confident in our walk with God that we think we are ready to do life without Him.  The “God, I’ve got this” pride enters in like an unwanted disease. The symptoms of arrogance and self-righteousness are readily seen by God before we notice the infection spreading in our hearts, minds, and souls. Others will notice but  God sees it first as He sees us from the inside out.  “Haughty,” arrogant overconfident spirits soon take over our being and focus on God blurs in the distance. God stands nearby.  God didn’t move but we have walked away from his assistance in our walk.  Then we fall.

Our passage today speaks of Uzziah, the king of Judah, who did what was right in the eyes of God—until pride took over his being.  With God’s leading he did great works for God’s people and stabilized the kingdom. But all that good was tarnished by the disease of pride from the inside out. Then the disease of leprosy was allowed to affict him from the outside in. Read to the end for the results of pride.

2 Chronicles 26

Uzziah King of Judah

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. ² He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his ancestors.

³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem. ⁴ He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He 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.

⁶ He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. He then rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. ⁷ God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites. ⁸ The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful.

⁹ Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them. ¹⁰ He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.

¹¹ Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials. ¹² The total number of family leaders over the fighting men was 2,600. ¹³ Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. ¹⁴ Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army. ¹⁵ In Jerusalem he made devices invented for use on the towers and on the corner defenses so that soldiers could shoot arrows and hurl large stones from the walls. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.

¹⁶ But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. ¹⁷ Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. ¹⁸ They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

¹⁹ Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. ²⁰ When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.

²¹ King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house—leprous, and banned from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

²² The other events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ²³ Uzziah rested with his ancestors and was buried near them in a cemetery that belonged to the kings, for people said, “He had leprosy.” And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

In the end, the King who did great things by God’s Mighty Hand, was only remember as the king who had leprosy.  How sad…pride brings sadness.

I’m now recalling how Jesus answered and dealt with another proud, rich young ruler, a ruler similar to Uzziah.  He came to Jesus honestly, but with hints of pride, and asked;

“Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “’You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” Matthew 19:16:22

Was the rich young ruler hoping to buy his way into heaven by writing a sizable check as a donation to Jesus and his group of followers?  Would that be good enough? Wait, Jesus, you want all from me?  Mm, that’s a bit too pricey for me—beyond any tax break you could give me.  But sadness comes refusing God.  “I’ve got this God,” is the plight of many believers and the not yet believers of Jesus.

Later, Jesus will explain this conversation to his disciples—

“Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Matthew 19:23-30

Pride has no place in our humbled walk with God in His Kingdom.

Pride that states confidently, “I do it myself,” leads quickly to fall.  Some of us who fall, humbly call out to God, “Lord, help me.”  But others of us act like toddlers in defiance of the fall.  We just sit and stew in our tears, wondering what went wrong when we were doing so good.  Pride blames everyone but us.  Pride tarnishes all the good achieved before the fall because we think the good came all from our own strengths. Pride, in fact, is our greatest weakness!

This is why the “pride proverb” is so famous!  “All have sinned and fall short,” writes Paul to the church and then and speaks to us today! (Romans 3:23) It is a sin not to give God all the glory for all that is good!  Pride is a sin that must be removed! Pride is removed only by repentance to God in the Name of Jesus! 

This proverbial wise advice is for all people and is said by believers and unbelievers alike.  But it specifically warns us all who have had the holy privilege to be a part of doing great works for the good of all by God leading, help, protection, and provision to stay humble, recognizing that it was God who did it through us as we held His Hand of wisdom and guidance.  Our only power to do good comes from God who is good through is Holy Spirit living and working in us. Listen to Him! 

Lord,

I repent of pride to you right now.  All I am, all I have I give back to you who gave life to me.  I’m yours.  I offer my life as an offering to you today. Guide me in all I think, say, and do so that others will know you, too.  Cleanse our hearts, remove all pride and all affects of this disease. Renew our minds, refresh our souls with your new mercies. Continually restore the joy of your salvation at work within us. And renew a right spirit within me.

In Jesus Name, Amen