Prosperity or Leprosy - Daily Devotional October 29th, 2009

Daily Bible Reading - 2 Chronicles 26-27, Daniel 7, Acts 7

Prosperity or Leprosy

2 Chronicles 26 paints such a clear picture for us that there are blessings when we walk with God in humility and curses when we walk without God in pride. This passages is so amazing because in 23 short verses it paints the rise and fall of King Uzziah. One moment he is walking in prosperity, life is great and the next he is dying to leprosy and secluded from all of humanity.

The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 26:5 that God made Uzziah prosper. It does not just say that Uzziah prospered but that God MADE him prosper. The key to God making us prosper is seen in verse 4 and the first part of verse 5, "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". This shows us that Uzziah's prosperity and our prosperity rests in our ability seek God and walk in obedience to what He says. My prosperity is not found in the things I have or in a certain level of status but my prosperity is found in my ability to seek God and obey Him. When I do this he MAKES me prosperous.

Fifteen verses later the story takes a turn and Uzziah is no longer walking in prosperity, instead he breaks out with leprosy. This drastic change takes place because of his change of heart towards God. 2 Chronicles 26:16, "...when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God...". In the beginning of the passage we see a young humble teachable king. Then Uzziah gets some time as king under his belt and he begins to think he is strong enough by himself to rule as king, that is pride. Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall". The minute we think we can do it on our own is the very moment in which we have gotten bigger in our own eyes than God every intended us to be. It is in that moment that the leprous qualities of sin enter our life. Romans 6:23 says, "the wages of sin is death", and just like leprosy it is a slow death as it gradually takes over our lives and takes us away from the great things God has for us, this is what happened to Uzziah.

As we look at this passage the ability to be prosperous or leprous is found in our choice to either walk in either humility or pride towards God. As I walk in humility He MAKES my way prosperous but as I walk in pride I earn my wages which is a slow miserable death. Just as quickly as it happened to Uzziah it can happen to you and I. So we must continue to seek God daily because it is in our seeking (prayer) that we are saying to God we need Him.

I choose to seek Him today, I choose prosperity over leprosy. What do you choose today?

Tomorrows Bible Reading - 2 Chronicles 28, Daniel 8, Acts 8

Dream Big
Ben