Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 8, No. 30
“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.” (2Chron 26:19NIV)
Who did leprosy break out on his forehead? Uzziah! And why did leprosy break out on his forehead? It was because he did not stay in his lane.As the account goes, Uzziah was an anointed king. He was anointed by God to be king over the house of Judah. And he did pretty well as king. In fact, the bible says that his fame spread far and wide because he was marvelously helped by God until he became powerful. (Cf. 2Chro 26:15)
But afterwards, he became proud. How? One day, he entered the temple of the Lord to offer incense. What was he thinking? Though he was anointed by God, he was not anointed by Him to be a priest but to be a king. Why, then, did he try to do the job of a priest? Pride!
See, Uziah, at the time, must have felt that there was nothing the priests were doing that he himself was not knowledgeable or anointed enough to do. What could have made him feel this way? We would not know.
Maybe he was not getting along well with some of the leading priests in the land at the time. Or maybe he felt that they were overrated and needed to be checked of their excesses. We would not know for sure.But even if some the priests in the land at the time were actually misbehaving, trying to take over their jobs in the temple was clearly not the solution. Those priests were set apart by God Himself to serve in His temple. They did not choose themselves. (Cf. Ex 28&29)
Then, when God chose their family, the family of Aaron, to serve Him in this manner, He was very clear about the fact that He would not welcome any argument about His choice of them. In fact, Korah, Dathan, Abiram, On and their families all perished because of their argument about this. That was to show how seriously God took the matter. (Cf. Numbers 16&17)
So, instead of trying to hijack the Aaronic priesthood from priests of the time, Uzziah should simply have prayed to God about their matter, that is, if they were actually misbehaving. But we do not even have it on record that they were misbehaving.
Therefore, it was completely out of place for him to enter the temple to do their job for them.At any rate, because of his arrogance, God immediately struck him with leprosy on his forehead, where everybody could easily see it. And that was to teach him and other arrogant people like Him that He was not docile and that He meant everything that He had said about the Aaronic priesthood.
Now are there lessons for us in all this? Yes, there are. And one of them is that we must learn to stay in our lane, especially where spiritual matters are involved. We all who believe in Christ Jesus are indeed anointed. And not one of us is more anointed than the others. But we all have not been set apart or gifted by God to do the same things.
So, even though you may know some things about what some other people are gifted by God to do, never try to minimize the relevance of what they are doing through your words or actions. Otherwise, you may get yourself wounded.
Often, I hear people say things like, “What is the big deal in being a pastor or a prophet? I too know enough Scriptures to be a pastor or a prophet. In fact, it is joblessness that drives many into calling themselves pastors, prophets and so forth.” People who speak and act in that manner are simply committing the sin of Uzziah. They don’t want to stay in their lane.
And if they are not shown mercy, they too, like Uzziah, will surely get wounded in such a way that they will not be able to hide their shame.Watch yourself, therefore, and stay in your lane. Yes, stay within the boundaries of the gifts, abilities and responsibilities given to you by God and even men. Otherwise, you may just expose yourself to problems that are never meant to be yours in life.
Copyright © 2025, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)