Doing Right in the Sight of the Lord- (Part 3)

(This is a continuation from 2 Chronicles 26:1-23.)

Even though Uzziah had leprosy and a tragic death overall, there was sadness. In spite of the shame and guilt he experienced in the later part of his life-there was national mourning to honour him as their long reigning king. Will people say something good about you after you die? Some interesting Epitaphs: “Here lies Less Lesmore, no more Less and Less no more.” Epitaph of a dentist named John Brown: “Strangers! Approach this spot with gravity, John Brown is filling his last cavity.”

One classic character was Ernest Hemingway. You would have heard of him when you were in high school? I read some of his works when I was in high school. He was a great writer, and wrote many books about his worldwide adventures. He might be in Paris drinking some exotic wines amongst the celebrities and rich famous people, then you would find him hunting grizzly bears in Alaska. Then he tells you about his fishing expedition and watching bullfights in Spain. He was a man of all seasons. You could say he lived the fullest life under the sun.

Yet there is always a time for reckoning. The time came when he thought he had done a lot of things, but life was boring, and he chose to take his own life. His suicide note read, “Life is just one damn thing after another.” That is life without hope, without God. But life is exciting and full of certainties.

If we are looking for satisfaction and meaning by means of temporary endeavours, we are destined to fail. Some people think that they can earn permanent satisfaction by their great achievements. They are so proud of their individual achievements which they believed would lead them to distinction and significance.

If that is the case, if you analyse it very carefully, it means that they are in absolute control of their lives and say the words of that famous poem Invictus, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” This is a very humanistic confession. Man is the centre of everything, not God.

There are so many individuals throughout history who have made a name for themselves. Their names are written in the “Hall of Fame” so to speak, yet died in despair.

The people perhaps were looking for comfort when king Uzziah died. The prophet Isaiah went to the temple when people were still mourning, perhaps looking for an answer.

Isaiah 6:1 says, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.”

Uzziah had just died, the nation was in mourning, and the prophet Isaiah went into the temple. In his upward look he saw another King-the ultimate King who is “holy, holy, holy,” as the Seraph sang. God is no other, He is holy. It is possible to know and to connect with Him. It is by all by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.