Uzziah Reigns in Judah

 

2 Chronicles 26: 1-15

 

Augusta 15, 2023

 

Uzziah Reigns in Judah

 

And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.  He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.   And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.  He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper Fathers.  Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 

What key factor we find in the great leaders in Scripture, is they had a healthy fear of God.  Uzziah was such a man until pride got the best of him.  Could it be that we the Church, need to partition heaven to give us leaders that have a healthy fear of God?

He went out and made war against the Philistines and broke through the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.  God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbaal and against the Meunites.  The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong.  Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate, and at the Angle, and fortified them.  And he built towers in the wilderness and cut out many cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.  Moreover, Uzziah had an army of soldiers, fit for war, in divisions according to the numbers in the muster made by Jeiel the secretary, and Maaseiah the officer, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king's commanders.  The whole number of the heads of fathers' houses of mighty men of valor was 2,600.  Under their command was an army of 307,500, who could make war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.  And Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging.  In Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.

It never seems to change God proper a leader and all kinds of leaders, pastors, business, and government and they begin to read the press clipping and they become arrogant and prideful, and you read about their fall.

That one kind of leader but the other is even worse, He has no fear of God, and yet God has put him in office to bring about destruction.  One must ask is that where our world is at this time?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice