The besetting sin of leadership is arrogance. It’s amazing how little success can lead to outsized arrogance. 

A good mentor can keep us moving in the right direction. “Zechariah, the teacher of the fear of God,” provided Uzziah with wise guidance. He kept him on the right path. Following God’s plans and path made Uzziah successful. He was an innovator. However, once he hit his peak, he overvalued his own importance. 

Verse 15 says it this way: “for he was wondrously helped until he became strong.” A modern proverb says, “God helps those who help themselves.” This is kinda sorta true. We help ourselves when we follow God’s plans and path. Too many leaders and ordinary folks like us enjoy our measures of success and then become, as Bono says in one of his songs, “way too confident, baby.”

Uzziah’s strength became his downfall. The most popular and powerful man in any and every room he entered lived out the last years of his life in seclusion. There were no shared meals, no long conversations, and no one asked his opinion or sought his wisdom. 

If you want to fail, try arrogance. If you want to fall flat on your face, become way too confident, baby. 

On the other hand, if you want God to exalt you, if you want his blessings and guidance, humble yourself before him and do everything he tells you. Uzziah ended his days at the opposite end of arrogance. I wonder how often he sat and wondered what could have been if he had not become so fascinated with himself? 

It’s a good day to set aside all tendencies toward swollen heads and braggadocio. It’s a good day to remember that we stand tallest when we bow before God on our knees, acknowledging him as the source of all our good success. 

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I will not become my own biggest fan.

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Our Father, please deliver me from the consequences of arrogance. May every compliment I receive find its proper destination with you. May others see more of you and less of me. Deliver me from endless fascination with myself. Amen.