Playing God or Obeying God

Playing God never turns out well; obeying God always does. Loud and clear, that message runs throughout the Bible in one powerful example after another. We see in the lives of Old Testament characters that humble obedience catalyzes divine abundance, but pride, presumption and disobedience are no better than bowing down to idols. The lesson of their lives is clear for us: Whenever we allow self—self-promotion, self-importance, self-aggrandizement, selfishness—to crawl onto the throne, we have usurped a role meant only for God. There is only room for one God in our lives, and that is neither you nor I.

Going Deep // Focus: 2 Kings 15:2-5

Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. But he did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there. The Lord struck the king with leprosy, which lasted until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house.

Reading the Bible through from start to finish increases your knowledge of God as much as anything. Discipleship happens through absorbing scripture. Of course, we must also add prayer, meditation and reflection, service and engagement in spiritual community into the mix, but Bible reading must be at the core. I am a big fan of the daily Bible reading because it is a power catalyst for spiritual transformation.

Done consistently, it also provides context for the people, events and doctrines we read within its pages. The stories that seem weird, hard or paint God in a bad light start to make sense in light of the full story. When we consider the big picture, God never acts harshly, unjustly or inconsistently. He never promotes evil, never acts arbitrarily, never punishes unlovingly, and never treats his children brutally. If you want to get a true picture of God and his will for your life, then read the entire Bible, many times, slowly and carefully.

Having said that, why then, in the present case of King Uzziah, would God strike this good man whom the writer pronounced, “pleasing in the Lord’s sight,” with the horrible disease of leprosy? Did God punish the king simply for neglecting to remove the high places scattered throughout Judah? These places littered the land for decades, so why did Uzziah get blamed for them? Why didn’t the previous kings suffer the consequence for not removing them? Well, there is more to the story, which is found in 2 Chronicles 26:

But when Uzziah 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. Azariah the high priest went in after him with eighty other priests of the Lord, all brave men. They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is the work of the priests alone, the descendants of Aaron who are set apart for this work. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned. The Lord God will not honor you for this!” … Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the Lord’s Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead. When Azariah the high priest and all the other priests saw the leprosy, they rushed him out. And the king himself was eager to get out because the Lord had struck him. (2 Chronicles 26: 26:16-20)

Now we get the full picture. God released immense favor upon Uzziah for his obedience. The king became rich, powerful and famous. In fact, he reigned longer than any other king. He obeyed God, so God blessed him, according to the divine promises scattered through the law. But those divine blessings went to his head. He began to think they had resulted from is own abilities. He became prideful, and in his pride, he even went so far as to enter the sanctuary to do what only priests could do: sacrifice offerings to the Lord God. Uzziah began to make up his own rules. Rather than obeying God, the king began to play God.

Fortunately, a large group of very brave priests confronted the king. And as they were facing him down, God struck him with leprosy—a horrible disease that would isolate Uzziah from the public for the rest of his life, and ultimately contribute to his death.

Could the lesson be any clearer? Uzziah paid a high price for God to make an unforgettable point for anyone reading this story. Playing God never turns out well; obeying God always does. Loud and clear, that message runs throughout the Bible in one powerful example after another. We see in the lives of Old Testament characters that humble obedience catalyzes divine abundance, but pride, presumption and disobedience are no better than bowing down to idols. The lesson of their lives is clear for us: Whenever we allow self—self-promotion, self-importance, self-aggrandizement, selfishness—to crawl onto the throne, we have usurped a role meant only for God.

There is only room for one God in our lives, and that is neither you nor I. The Lord alone desires to occupy the throne of our lives. Only he deserves to be there. In fact, he demands to have sole possession of that kingly territory. Which is precisely why stories like Uzziah’s are preserved in scripture.

That leads to the most important question you will have to answer today: who is occupying the throne of your heart: You, or God? Before you go a step further, dethrone self and enthrone God. Playing God is always fatal; obeying God is always blessable.