Uzziah

 n the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Isaiah 6:1....."Uzziah had to die before Isaiah could receive a fresh vision from God." John Bevere

Someone said that we become what we behold. Another said that to behold Him is to be changed by Him. There can be no doubt from reading the 6th chapter of Isaiah that a tremendous transformation took place in Isaiah's life and heart when he beheld the glory of the Lord. What was it that brought it about? Isaiah was not an unbeliever. I expect he was considered a devout man of God before this experience, but he wasn't the man he was to become. What was the difference? Can we believe that it was what Bevere points to? Did Uzziah have to "die" before Isaiah could really behold the God he'd always believed in? If it is, and I think in our hearts we already know it is, then we have to be asked this question; who, or what is it that is our "Uzziah? Who or what is it that keeps us from beholding Him as He is, and as He wants us to see and know Him? We can't avoid this question because each of us has our own "Uzziah," and that Uzziah must "die" if we are ever to see, behold, and become that for which He created us.

Uzziah had been the king. At times a very good one, and at others, particularly in his later years, one who fell short of that. He'd obviously occupied a large place in Isaiah's life. He occupied a central place in it. His death was traumatic. Isaiah must have had some kind of high place in the nation's affairs. He knew that this would have major consequences on the nation, possibly catastrophic ones. Uzziah had been a powerful king. What would happen now that he was gone? Uzziah had occupied a central place in Isaiah's thinking and consciousness. Now he was gone.....and now Isaiah would be able to see what the presence of Uzziah had been blinding him to....the greater, infinitely more powerful and glorious God of Israel.

Fast forward more than 2500 years, and we see that things have not changed in the lives of believers these days. We still have our line of sight filled with various kinds of "Uzziah's." People, things, goals, desires, hopes and dreams, that fill our vision, that are all that we see. They become more real to us than the God we say we believe in. We may have trusted the Father through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, for salvation, but we rarely have lived out a lifestyle of trust and relationship with Him. When we face the troubles, challenges, and dangers of this fallen world, like the world, we seek first practical answers and strategies for coping, rather than His supernatural ability and presence for overcoming. As John Eldredge put it, "We've accepted the winter of this world as the final word, and have tried to get on without the hope of spring." I think something of this was in Isaiah's heart before the death of Uzziah. With his death, the possibility of beholding something, someone greater was right before Him. Something in Isaiah's heart desired something more, someone greater. With the passing of the limited, the practical, Uzziah, came the reality of the Almighty God he'd always believed in but never really knew. Where in our lives might we be living in that same kind of place?

So we return to the question: What Uzziah's, for there are likely more than one, have to die before we finally see the One who's always been there? How long till we finally see the face of God in Jesus Christ. So long as we cling to them, we'll continue to worship at their altars. But if we let go of them, let them pass from our hands and be yielded up to Him, our eyes will be opened, we will see, behold, and become what He's always intended for us.

I've been talking about our Uzziah's dying, but really, it is far more about us dying to our Uzziah's. To their power and hold upon us. When we die to that, we begin to live for Him. Be transformed by Him. Beholding, we are changed. His glory is always before us. Isn't it time for us to finally behold it?

Blessings,

Pastor O