“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.”
– 2 Chronicles 26:5
I want to read two verses from 2 Chronicles 26, both about Uzziah, King Uzziah. 2 Chronicles 26:5, first.
So this picture is crystal clear, that prosperity from God accompanies the pursuit of God. That when we pursue God, we will experience prosperity from God. I’m not promising, nor is the Bible promise, that means earthly, material, physical prosperity, but it does mean prosperity in all the ways that matter most. That kind of prosperity, always accompanies, the pursuit of God.
God, we pray that our lives would be marked by the pursuit of you.
2 Chronicles 26:5 Leads Us to Pray for Help Pursuing God
But then you get to 2 Chronicles 26:16 and listen to what it says about Uzziah there.
“But when he was strong, in other words, when he had grown prosperous, he grew proud to his destruction, for he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord, to burn incense on the altar of incense.”
Do you see the picture here? Uzziah pursues God, he experiences prosperity and then he is prideful in his prosperity, as if he’s the one who made that prosperity happen.
What a lesson here for all of us, all of us. Anything and everything good in our lives, comes ultimately and only, from God. You might think, “Well, but I’ve worked hard to acquire this or to achieve this or to get to this or that point. I’ve done all kinds of things.” And yes, I don’t doubt that you have. But who gave you the grace to wake up in the morning, all those days that you were achieving this or that? And who gave you the strength to do that? Who gave you gifts to be able to do that? Who gave you the abilities to be able to do that? All of that comes from God.
2 Chronicles 26:5 Reminds Us to Put Aside Pride
So put aside all pride. In all of our lives, put aside pride. Anything good in us is ultimately from God. Put aside pride then and pursue him and keep pursuing him until the day you die. That’s the lesson from King Uzziah, in 2 Chronicles 26:5 and it leads us to pray.
God, please, please, please forgive us for our pride. We have no reason for pride. We deserve hell forever. That’s where we deserve to be right now. That’s what our lives have warranted. Even the fact that we’re praying right now, and we know you, and we’re walking with you, this is a gift of your grace. There is nothing we have that is good, that is ultimately from us. It’s all from you, oh God, so please, please, please forgive us of our pride and rid us of all pride.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for Humility
We pray for humility and we pray for hearts that are set on seeking you, just as Uzziah started in his early days. God, we pray that our lives would be marked by the pursuit of you and that we would experience prosperity from you in a way that leads us to pursue you all the more, in a way that leads to humble gratitude, for your grace in our lives, an even deeper pursuit of you in our lives.
God, we pray for that in light of 2 Chronicles 26:5. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
