A person doesn’t have to read the old testament very long to see a pattern.
Some dude becomes a king and in the beginning, it’s all good. He does what is pleasing to the Lord. And so the king gains more power, more success.
But with that power and success comes a problem….
The king becomes proud.
And the king departs from God.
This is the pattern I’ve been reading as I find myself alternating back and forth between Kings and Chronicles.
Enter Uzziah.
This is his story.
He did what was pleasing to the Lord and God blessed him. God gave him victory over his enemies and much success.
2 Chronicles 26:15 says his fame spread far and wide for the Lord gave him marvelous help, and he became very powerful.
Yet that power and influence does what it so easily can do….
It inflated his head and corrupted his heart.
Scripture tells us in the very next verse that when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. (v16)
Uzziah didn’t just disobey God, he spat in the face of the Lord’s holiness.
And God struck Uzziah with leprosy.
The Bible doesn’t tell us much more, except that he had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house and his son was put in charge.
It’s easy to read those final verses of the story, feel a bit sorry for Uzziah, a bit sobered by God’s judgment, and declare the whole thing a tragedy.
But what if it wasn’t?
What if getting struck by leprosy was the best thing that could have happened to Uzziah?
What if that leprosy was the catalyst that brought about repentance? What if those final years of isolation provided Uzziah with a clarity he wouldn’t have otherwise had–a reminder of who he was and who God is? What if God used those diseased years to draw Uzziah back to Himself?
What if God turned an awful, temporary affliction into a man’s eternal salvation?
This is truth:
God can turn suffering into blessing.
He can turn something like leprosy or cancer or infertility or (insert any number of afflictions) inside out and upside down.
He can use the curses of this world to drive us to our knees, closer to Him.
And isn’t that where our blessing ultimately lies? At the foot of the cross. At the throne room of the King.
Let’s Talk: What “curses” has God used to be a blessing in your life?
Thank you, Caroline Flory, for making that quote from Wishing on Willows look all pretty!
Are you on Twitter? Join the #WillowTalk Twitter Event. The last week of April, tweet a review or tweet your favorite lines from Wishing on Willows, make sure to use the #WillowTalk hashtag, and you could win three books from my publisher, plus a $5 gift card to Starbucks. There will be 25 winners! Please RSVP here!
