September 23

"While he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy brake forth in his forehead." 2 Chronicles 26:19

How angry we can get when we are not permitted to serve God in the way which we want! King Uzziah was an earnest man who wanted to offer worshipful service to God, but he wanted to do it in his own way. His way, however, was not God’s way, and so his anger and his efforts ended in disaster.

"Others can do it," he might have argued, "so why not I? Am I not as good as they are?" Our sphere of service is not to be decided in this way. It is not a question of merit but of the divine purpose. Uzziah became very heated when he was not allowed to take this service to God into his own hands, but the heat of the flesh was of no avail. His service was rejected, and he never entered the house of God again. We serve God best when we humbly accept his will as he makes it known to us.