Power and Pride

 There are some things that just don't go together. When we put these things together, we get something very bad or harmful. When we have a fire, it is disastrous to add gasoline. We cause an explosion and harm to those nearby. If we give small objects to young children, we are asking for trouble. Since they tend to put everything in their mouth, there is a great danger of them swallowing the object and choking. We always have to be very careful of what we allow to exist together. This applies to the things in our hearts and lives, too.

Uzziah started off his reign as king of Judah very well. He sought the Lord, and the Lord blessed him. He won victories over the Philistines and built up the military and their defenses. (II Chronicles 26:16) "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." The combination of power and pride brought his reign and his life to a bad ending. We need to be very aware of this combination in our lives.

Power is not bad by itself. We can get power by doing a good job, so that people respect us and give us power to do things that others are not allowed to do. We can be faithful to the Lord, and God can bless us with a better position or ministry which involves us having more power. Then, we can use the power we have to do God's will and to help others. That is what God intends for us to do when we have power. However, power can also go to our head, and it can hurt us and others when it brings pride into our heart.

It is part of our human nature to tend to get proud of ourselves when we are able to accomplish things that are significant and things that are recognized by other people as being good. When that happens, we need to stop the pride from going any further by becoming humble, instead of proud. When we are humble, we realize that we can't do anything ourselves. It is only by God's blessings to us that we can accomplish anything worthwhile. Then, we give Him the glory, and we do not let ourselves accept any of the credit for what has been done. That is what can prevent the explosion of putting power and pride together.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read II Chronicles 28-30.