In the twenty-seventh year of
Jeroboam – Azariah…became king.

 And he did right in the
  sight of the Lord…

 Then the Lord struck the king,
so that he was a leper until the  
day of his death…

2 Kings 15:1-5

  If this were the entire story —
  it would be rather sad.
  A king does right — and God
  strikes him with leprosy.

  Thankfully 2 Chronicles 26
 gives some  further insight.

Azariah (or Uzziah as 2 Chronicles calls him) wasn’t just a good king.
He was a great king. He was a builder, a farmer, a warrior and
possibly a mad scientist inventor.

He sought God through the prophet Zechariah, and
“as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.”
(2 Chr 26:5)

But Azariah let all his success go to his head.
Pride lifted him up — and he thought himself worthy to enter
the temple of God — doing the ministry of a priest — and
burning incense on the altar.

It was then, that God struck him with leprosy.
For the rest of his days, he would have a physical
reminder that he was in fact unclean.
Unworthy to enter into the presence of God.

 ——————

Whenever you or I have success — there is a great danger.

The tendancy of this wicked heart is to think:

I’m successful because I am worthy.
God is blessing me because I am more worthy
(or holy, spiritual, humble,
sensitive to the Lord, obedient to His word)
than God’s other people.

It’s Christmas time.
This week in church, a choir sang:

“He alone is worthy”.

The danger in thinking I am worthy is this:
I make myself un-useable to God.

Successful ministry can never spring from my own
worthiness or ability —
only in my inability can God do mighty things.

As Azariah’s own prophet said in Zechariah 4:6

“It’s not by might, nor by power,
but by My Spirit says the Lord”

Let us not forget — only Jesus is worthy.
And it’s only as we seek Him and abide in Him,
acknowledging our own weakness —
that we will have any measure of success.