Wise And Humble Leadership - King Uzziah

When he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the LORD his God by entering the sanctuary of the LORD’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.

2 Chronicles 26:16

In a speech to the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf said, “I’ve met a lot of leaders in the Army who were very competent—but they didn’t have character. And for every job they did well, they sought reward in the form of promotions, in the form of awards and decorations, in the form of getting ahead at the expense of someone else, in the form of another piece of paper that awarded them another degree—a sure road to the top. You see, these were competent people, but they lacked character.”

It takes a man of true humility to keep his feet on the ground over the long haul when he is given power or authority over others.

Uzziah, Judah’s tenth king, was not such a man.

Uzziah ascended to the throne at age sixteen. He led his people to several military victories and restored his nation to almost unprecedented levels of prosperity and power.

Uzziah’s long and sometimes distinguished reign came to an unfortunate end because of his arrogant thirst for power. One day he expressed his arrogance by entering the sanctuary of the holy Temple and burning incense on the altar, which was a job God had reserved for his priests.

No doubt Uzziah was a strong and able leader. Unfortunately, he failed to understand and accept his place in God’s plan for the nation of Judah. Had Uzziah remained humble and led as God had called him to do, he might have become one of the nation’s greatest kings. Rather than end his career as magnificently as it had begun, he spent his later years shut away from people in a leper colony.

Do you understand your place in the big picture? How would you describe it? What kind of leader are you in your home, workplace, or church? As a man of God, you are called to be a leader who understands your place in the universe. That means leading with humility.