Unfortunately, strength = toxic too much of the time.
The warnings are clear in Scripture for those who rise to positions of leadership. There is a story in 2nd Chronicles that should strike fear into all leader’s hearts–or at least a healthy concern. A sixteen-year old was placed in leadership in Judah. His father, Amaziah had died and it was his turn to rule the nation.
And a long reign he had: fifty-two years.
Uzziah “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” as he began his reign. He sought God, was teachable (by the prophet Zechariah), and God made him prosper as he followed the Lord.
Scripture says,
God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbaal and against the Meunites. 8 The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong.
2 Chronicles 26:7-8 (ESV)
His military might was a result of God’s delight in him. Uzziah was faithful to the Lord. There is so much encouragement here that such a young man should rule with wisdom and faith.
But.
Pride
But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.
2 Chronicles 26:16 (ESV)
The Lord had set up a separation of powers (duties) in the theocracy of the Old Testament. The national political rulers (kings) were not allowed to interfer with the sacrificial system of the temple. Though there were often battles between the kings and priests, where the kings had responsibility to rule the nation, the priesthood made it evident that God ruled over the kings.
Uzziah’s unfaithfulness would be a footnote in his story if what happened next had been different.
17 But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor, 18 and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God.”
2 Chronicles 26:17-18 (ESV)
The priest, Azariah stood up to the king. Like Nathan in King David’s case (2 Samuel 12). Like all faithful friends and advisors to those in power over the centuries. Azariah was willing to do the messy work of challenging the wicked behavior of the most powerful person in the nation of Judah.
Anger
This is an important point of the story, and what comes next is the frustrating part.
19 Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense.
2 Chronicles 26:19 (ESV)
Unfortunately, a reign that was godly and a witness to the Lord of heaven and earth ended in arrogance and entitlement. “He became proud.” Rather than admitting his foolish and arrogant behavior to the Lord (and Azariah), his sin was not a footnote but the fall of his rule in Judah.
In his pride, Uzziah was likely thinking that he could do what he wanted. He was powerful and was likely continually being coddled by his subordinates; told he was the greatest, winning all his battles, a real rock star.
No priest could tell him what to do.
But God did not allow him to continue in his arrogance. The Lord physically struck him, causing him to break out in leprosy.
And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD.
2 Chronicles 26:21
With dishonor and shame he went to the grave; turned out of his primary residence; disallowed entrance to the presence of God (“excluded from the house of the Lord”). Uzziah’s life was turned upside down.
Accountability
It is an important story for leaders. Each of us, in our places of influence, must understand the warnings that the Lord provides through the many stories in Scripture. We need the accountability of others. We need others who will, even if subordinate to us, be able to bring us grace through criticism.
We need to humble ourselves before the gracious and mighty hand of the Lord . . . before it is too late.
Your last paragraph — it sounds like you are a leader writing to other leaders. So I have questions.
Who are you? What is you leadership position or leadership background?
What audience do you imagine this blog is aimed at?
The “About P&S” tells a bit of my story. Yes, I am in positions of leadership. Generally speaking, everyone is at various times in positions of leadership whether in the home, work, organization, or church settings. This article is directed to anyone who is in power / authority to receive criticism rather than think they are above it all.
Your About page is confusing. In it you speak about yourself as a single individual (“I”), but you also speak about yourself in the plural (“we”).
Also, you state your name and show your photo on the About page. So on your About page, I can see that you are male. However, in your blog posts the reader has no way of telling whether you are male or female, or what your name is. That comes across to me, as an occasional reader, as if you are hiding your real identity for some reason, and that bothers me as a reader. I add sad l myself what you are hiding.
Also, on your About page you say:
“It is my desire that these writings are pearls . . . Good News for those who suffer under toxic leadership.” That sounds like you are writing primarily for an audience of survivors of abuse. But this particular post of yours was NOT aimed at survivors at all. As a survivor reading this post, I felt offended because when you were addressing readers you were implying that I had been at fault.
I’ve taken the trouble to give you this feedback. I hope you will seriously take it on board.
Barbara, I normally write the blogs. Sometimes I share writings by others but will say so. I am not concerned about hiding my identity, but when I share the stories of survivors I do intend to hide their identities for their safety. I also want the principles taught through their stories not be distracted from which can happen when names and places are identified. I write for both leaders and survivors. Many of my blogs are to encourage leaders to do so humbly and without toxicity. Others are for survivors to encourage and bring healing. This blog notes at the beginning it is for leaders: “The warnings are clear in Scripture for those who rise to positions of leadership.”
I am a female survivor and have never felt deceived by the author or offended in any way. Nor have I been confused as to who the author is addressing or what he is addressing.
The opening words of this blog post did not make it clear to me that the post was written for leaders. Your words, “The warnings are clear in Scripture for those who rise to positions of leadership.,” could indicate that the post was written for survivors as well as for leaders, and that’s how I read the post until I got to the final subhead “Accountability”. Then I got a shock because you were giving hard words of warning and admonishment, and it sounded like you were including me and other survivors of abuse in those warning and admonishments.
Sorry for the confusion, Barbara. Intended as a warning against toxic leadership.