So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil- Ephesians 5:15-16 NASB

Every so often, I come across a verse or passage in Scripture that hits me in an unexpected way.  These verses tend to be in the Old Testament; they ALWAYS make me weirdly self-reflective, as a result, I spend a lot of time meditating on them. It happened the other day when I came across this gem in Isaiah:

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple- Isaiah 6:1 NASB

It was the first eleven words that got me:  in the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord. Isaiah appears to be implying that in order for him have an encounter with God where he really saw and understood God in all of His glory Uzziah had to be out of the picture. In other words, Uzziah’s presence in this world kept people from seeing God clearly. 

Yikes. 

If my understanding of this verse is accurate, (and I suspect it is) it says a great deal about Uzziah and how he finished his race of faith (1st Corinthians 9:24, Hebrews 12:1). Uzziah began both his reign and his spiritual race with good intentions (2nd Chronicles 26:1-15). Uzziah had a heart for God and a desire to make Him known. For most of his life Uzziah was God’s guy. Nonetheless, the more successes he experienced the more arrogant he became. He made a classic error: he started to believe he was as awesome as everyone told him he was. He started taking credit for things that he had nothing to do with; at the same time, he stopped giving God the glory that was rightfully His.  Uzziah began to feel he was above obeying God and following rules all the less important people were required to follow (2nd Chronicles 26:16-21). All the while, Uzziah was blissfully ignorant to the changes taking place in his heart. He saw himself as the same old Uzziah he had always been. In reality he was so bloated with pride he truly believed no one (including God) had the right to tell him what to do.

Not good Uzziah. Not good at all. As I pondered all this, I began to wonder if I am doing or not doing things that make it difficult, or even impossible for people to see Jesus in me. 

It’s a relevant question. 

 Anyone who wants to successfully run their race of faith should consider this question (2nd Corinthians 13:5).  Uzziah’s story proves it’s easy to run the race of faith successfully for a long time and then just kind of hit the skids from a spiritual perspective. Unknown spiritual derailment was not just an Old Testament problem. The Apostle Paul saw the same issue in the Galatian Christians (Galatians 5:7). The Galatian believers started their spiritual walk out with a lot of hullabaloo but were eventually tripped up by legalistic people and bad theology. The Galatians were completely blind to the impact those influences were having on them.  Apparently, feelings are not a great indicator of our overall spiritual health.  

Sigh.

Spiritual success isn’t about dumb luck. If we live intentionally, with our eyes on the prize of eternity we will succeed in all the ways that really matter in life (Philippians 3:14, Matthew 25:21). Prayer is key (Matthew 26:41, Proverbs 15:8, 1st Thessalonians 5:13). Specifically, it is critical we make a point of asking God to show us our blind spots. Asking God to show us our sins and shortcomings (and meaning it) is a tough thing to do, mostly because God ALWAYS answers that prayer (if we mean it). God is not like our friends. He does not feel a codependent urge to make us feel better about ourselves when we are wandering in places we don’t belong or adopting attitudes that will ruin us (Matthew 7:21-23). There are also signs we can be alert to: dusty Bibles, a less spiritual set of friends and skipped prayer times say a lot about what’s going on in our hearts. We can also ask a few people we trust to tell us the truth about ourselves. This kind of accountability is priceless. However, in order for it to work we must be willing to humble ourselves and hear hard things sometimes. 

None of those things come easily to fallen people. 

I have concluded that humanity is so messed up that spiritual success would be impossible if it weren’t for God. We play a part in our personal sanctification (Romans 12:1-21, Colossians 3:1-17, 2nd Peter 1:3-11, Philippians 2:12). However, if God were not good, kind and merciful even when we are foolish, wayward and distracted we would all fail (Ephesians 2:1-9, Titus 3:3-7, Psalm 36:5). God roots for our success and He works in us and on us all the time to make us spiritually fruitful (John 15:1-5). I am convinced God wants us to win the race of faith more than we want to win the race of faith (Joshua 1:8). Spiritual success comes, not when we try harder but when we choose to follow God as closely as possible. That’s where Uzziah went wrong.  He lost his way because he lost sight of God.  When we choose to walk in holiness and stay in close proximity to Jesus, God does the rest.