2 Chronicles 26

Just read some more Old Testament (inspired by taking Planet Changers woot!), as we've been studying past kings, and as usual, it kinda freaked me out. There was a king named Uzziah, and he was a great king, and lead his people to many victories and became famous. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Then, well of course, he got proud. Because God had helped him, he was succesful. But he thought it was ALL because of him, and him alone.

So he tries to be cool and take the priest's job. And he gets owned. By owned I mean he gets leprosy on his forehead (the place where a king gets annointed). And then he gets banished from the kingdom, and lives out the rest of his days in a secluded house, alone. All together now everyone... OWNED. But okay, it's not that much of a laughing matter, because there's a lesson.

The lesson is humility and obedience. (oh thank you Jesse for the churchy sounding words and vaugeness. you rock.) Cliche sounding as they may be, they're true.

What does that mean for us? I guess we shouldn't lose sight of our creator, our Lord, and our provider. Honour God because all the blessings we have is thanks to Him. Like, I'm not kidding. And while you're at it, if you want to, you can thank Him for not obliterating you into a gajillion (that's one million googols) pieces for sinning 24/7, therefore constantly offending Him. It doesn't have to be out of fear, because let's be honest, if God was gonna sass us up every time we really played up, we'll all be... well, really SASSED up. So obviously there's grace and mercy upon our lives that means we don't have to constantly thank Him. But for those in a relationship with Him, it should be in our heart to do it anyway, even if it's once in a blue moon when it occurs to us.

There's also a more subtle and important lesson: we all have our places. Uzziah was king, but only king. Not priest, not prophet; king. This means that we have a calling on our lives. Whether or not they seem amazing to you immediately isn't the point. The point is that we're created for our own unique puposes, and therefore have characteristics and talents to help us achieve that. It's not our place to choose another destiny for ourselves.

If you're not a christian and you're reading this, it may sound oppressing or whatever that I'm saying we all have our destinies set. That's cool. We're all free to believe what we want right. But what I've learnt is that all stories are stories; not lessons. By this I mean that anyone can take whatever they want out of a story (whether it's a Bible story, a news report, or just a piece of fiction). Other christians may not even have gotten out of that story what I did, and likewise, you are free to read it and make up your own mind.

And if you disagree with me, awesome, hit us up with a comment and we'll debate like civilised people with too much time on our hands.

(thanks to Matt Jorgie for the heads-up on the forehead being annointed bit)