June 13, 2013 (Thursday)
The prophet Isaiah preached to the people of Judah. Isaiah was probably the cousin of King Uzziah. Cousins can be quite close, which may have been the case with Isaiah and Uzziah. But Uzziah became so popular and powerful that he grew arrogant–so much so that he entered the Temple and attempted to act as priest. The priests all tried to get him to cease his unheard of acts at the altar of God, but he persisted. It was a tragic step, for God immediately struck him with leprosy, and he became a social outcast for the rest of his life.
When Uzziah died, his death was a personal loss for Isaiah, who in his grief had a vision of God’s majesty, glory and power. It is recorded for us in Isaiah 6. A powerful vision. Isaiah’s response to finding himself in the presence of the omnipresent, omnipotent, omnicient, and righteous God was, “Woe is me.” He was totally humbled in the Divine Presence. That will always be our experience when we draw near the Lord.
Uzziah’s power among men blinded him to the greatness of God, the Almighty One. He made the tragic mistake of thinking so highly of himself that he no longer felt a need to humble himself before God. He was not the last person to err in that way. We see people every day who have made no place at all in their hearts for the Lord. “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul” are not only words of a poem but heeded by many as a motto by which to live.
It is to people who have been misled by this flawed motto into lives of sin that God says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
A wonderful hymn gives us these words: “God is not dead, nor does He sleep.” As I contemplate the rising tide of atheism in our nation, I also think about Uzziah and Isaiah, recalling Longfellow’s verse:
When men repent and turn from sin
The Prince of Peace then enters in,
And grace imparts within their hearts
His peace on earth, good will to men.