WHEN GOOD THINGS GO BAD: Sometimes God’s blessings lead people away from God.
- 2 Chronicles 26:16.
- This is not just something we see here. In the Mosaic Law, as God tells Israel that their obedience will lead to Him blessing, He then explicitly warns them that there is a great danger that the blessings will lead their hearts away from Him.
- We might ask, “Then why does God give blessings?”
- First, because it’s in His Father heart to want to be loving and generous toward us.
- Second, there are potential negatives with any path He chooses. If He instead chose not to give at all, that could open the possibility of feelings of resentment and abandonment that He wasn’t answering in any tangible way. In each path, no matter which He chooses, there is the possibility of something good or something bad coming from it.
A PERFECT EXAMPLE:
1. GOD BLESSES HIS SERVANT WHO IS DOING RIGHT.
- 2 Chronicles 26:1-15.
- It is in the heart of God to bless and prosper those whom He loves.
2. THE BLESSINGS CAUSE UZZIAH TO FORGET HIS PLACE.
- 2 Chronicles 26:16.
- The important thing here is not that Uzziah was burning incense. There’s nothing intrinsically evil in burning incense. The sin was that burning incense in the temple was part of the priests’ job (v. 18), as outlined in the Mosaic Law. Uzziah was stepping beyond his authority; he forgot His proper place. This was important because this was not to be a nation where all the authority rested in one person. Uzziah needed to understand that His authority was not without limit.
- We do similar things.
- We forget how much of what has come our way in blessings is from beyond us. We begin to think we’re the ones who have made it all. We identify ourselves with the heightened place we’ve been lifted to.
3. GOD OPENS UP A MOMENT OF REPENTANCE.
- 2 Chronicles 26:17-18.
- Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it opens up a moment of possible repentance.
- You’ve got to give credit to the brave priests. This is a time when flouting the authority of the king could easily cost your life. Yet they bravely stand up against the wrong that Uzziah is doing.
- Uzziah’s pride, though, does not allow him to acknowledge his error. We can presume that he was likely incensed (pun intended) by their brazen rebuke.
- We have a choice to make in such moments: will we humble ourselves and repent or will we cling to our pride?
- Sadly, often the choice is to not repent.
- Think of the spouse who sits alone knowing that they were wrong in what they said, yet their pride will not allow them to say the words “I was wrong” or “I apologize.”
- Think of the co-worker who continues to argue their point when everyone else in the room has made it clear their idea is a bad one. It’s not that they truly and deeply believe their idea is right – it’s that they’ve publicly planted their flag on this ground and their pride will not allow them to retreat.
4. IF WE FAIL TO REPENT, JUDGMENT FALLS.
- 2 Chronicle 26:19-20.
- If we allow our pride to keep us from repenting, it’s very likely that judgment will fall.
- Now, it may not fall as quickly as it did for Uzziah, where it came almost immediately. Sometimes it’s days later, sometimes weeks. It might be years later. In some cases, it might not be until Final Judgment.
- We can say, though, from our experiences that the judgment on pride usually does fall. Think of how often someone who is full of themselves finds that destroying close relationships, alienating business partners, distancing them from God.
- In this case, as usually happens, the judgment fits the sin.
- Uzziah is trying to take a higher place than he deserves in the temple system. The leprosy is not a random punishment. It’s a direct rebuke to his actions. In the Old Testament temple system, someone with leprosy (and multiple other physical problems) was not allowed to be in the temple. This is God essentially saying, “You think you can do everything in the temple? Here’s your punishment: now you can do nothing in the temple.”
- This could look like:
a. Letting natural consequences fall.
b. Broken relationships.
c. Isolation.
d. Distance from God.
5. THERE MAY BE A POINT WHERE THE SINS CAN BE FORGIVEN BUT THE CONSEQUENCES CANNOT BE UNDONE.
- 2 Chronicles 26:21.
- Just because a sin can be forgiven doesn’t mean that its consequences can be undone.
- An affair can be forgiven by God, but the marriage may be irredeemable and divorce inevitable.
- An angry tirade of words can be forgiven by co-workers, but might still result in being fired by the boss.
- Sometimes we are too casual about our sin and God’s “fix-it” ability. We can be thankful that we serve a forgiving God, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t run from sin as quickly as we can.
- In this story, it seems that Uzziah repents of his anger and what he did in the temple, as evidenced by him eagerly leaving the temple without further argument (v. 20). But that doesn’t change the fact that he has leprosy until the day he died.
- It’s interesting that v. 20 indicates that Uzziah was suddenly “eager to leave.” He would no doubt be much quicker to acknowledge his error at this point, but it’s too late for the punishment.
HOW TO HANDLE BLESSINGS: Blessings should make us feel small, not make us feel big.
- 2 Chronicles 26:15b.
- The right way is that blessings should make us feel small.
- We should think things like, “I couldn’t have done that on my own” and “Isn’t it wonderful that God is blessing me?” and “He brought so much together in this effort” and “I am so dependent on His power.”
- Not small in a bad way, but in a “proper place” way: knowing I’m a small part of a much bigger story, knowing how big God I to pull that off, knowing that He loves me in spite of my shortcomings.
- The wrong way is that the blessings make us feel big.
- We shouldn’t think things like, “I did this” and “I deserve the credit people are giving me” and “I am the center of this” and “This would all fall apart if it wasn’t for me.”
- The blessings of God should make us realize our dependence on Him and His power on our behalf.
- The problem often happens like it seems to have with Uzziah.
- Uzziah had all these successes (vv. 5-15). Because of them, he had an elevated status not only as a king, but as an enormously successful king. Living the life of that successful person, it’s easy to begin to identify yourself with that success you’ve been handed.
- There’s the executive whose success causes people to defer to him. Over time, it’s easy to begin to think that you genuinely are the smartest, most insightful mind on every issue.
- There’s the person whose winning personality makes them the center of attention. Over time, it’s easy to begin to believe that you genuinely are the best person in your group of friends.
- There’s the woman whose intellect makes them a super-successful student. Over time, it’s easy to begin to see yourself as more knowledgeable than the Bible.
- Maybe have a mirror, have light shine on it. Reflect the light back on the source or reflect the light on my face?
- One example of mishandling blessings would be the U.S. Rather than being humble in our blessings and thankful for how much God has given, we tend to be pretty full of ourselves.
