As Long As


"Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. And as long as the king sought the Lord, God gave him success. ... 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 altar. ... as he was standing there with the priests before the incense altar in the Lord's Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead." II Chronicles 26:5,16,19

One bad play. That's all it takes. Coming from a card playing family, I know too well the agony of the misplay. The wrong card at the wrong time and "Ugh!" it's over. It doesn't matter that every other play was perfect. As soon as that mistake is made, the other players jump on it and down you go. Thankfully, with cards, each hand marks a reset. Life, however, is a bit more complicated.

Uzziah was a righteous king for a long time and God blessed him. He lived in the sweet spot and life was good for him and his people. For whatever reason, we human beings tend to get a little full of ourselves, particularly when we're in the spotlight like Uzziah was. "I'm the man," he surmised and he tried to rewrite God's rules. Wrong card, wrong time. God's discipline was swift and effective.

We all have some doozies don't we? Really bad life plays that we know would forever alter people's perception of us. Some of us have felt the heat for those decisions, others of us have felt the heat of the fear of being exposed. Some amazing news for all of us. God knows all about everything concerning our lives and yet still chooses love. Wow! Out of deep gratitude, let's live in pursuit of Jesus as long as we live.

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