A lesson from Asa

A Lesson from King Asa
A couple of weeks ago I was reading in II Chronicles about Asa, King of Judah. The story starts out inspirational… He was a great king of Judah, he did away with idol worship, etc. When Zerah the Cushite came to war against them, he prayed “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us…we rely on you and in your name we have come against this vast army. O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you.” (2 Chronicles 14:11) God saved them from the army, Asa led Judah in renewing their covenant with God and seeking him wholeheartedly, so “God gave them rest on every side.” There was no more war until he had reigned 35 years. But the next time Asa was threatened by war, he made a treaty with another king instead of relying on God. God was not pleased sending this message through a prophet, “Because you relied on the King of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites..a mighty army?… Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand…From now on you will be at war.” (2 Chr. 16:7-9)
Finally, he got a disease and “Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only the physicians.” (2 Chr. 16:12) That gives me chills. He started out with amazing faith and reliance on God, but by the end of his life he wouldn’t call on God even though he was horribly sick. Scary.
Lessons here:
1. The Lord is will fight for us when we rely on him. No one whose hope is in Him will ever be put to shame. (PS 25:3) EVERY time I have stepped out in faith and relied on the Lord, he has more than met my need and provided. EVERY single time, why do I doubt for the future? I have countless examples, but this is getting long. To be shared at another time.
2. We can and should trust him completely, all the time, for everything. We do not want to make the mistake of self-reliance! Over and over in the Psalms and Isaiah God implores us to wait for him. “Be still before the Lord. Wait patiently for him.” PS 37:3 “Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” PS 27:14 PS 106:13 “But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel.”
Saul made the same mistake in I Sam 13, when he took things into his own hands and didn’t wait for Samuel to sacrifice to the Lord. The chilling part in Saul’s story is that “Just as (Saul) finished making the offering, Samuel arrived.” (I Sam 13:10) How many times have we decided to take things into our own hands, just before God is about to move? Very scary thought. The consequence for self reliance in these cases was no small thing either… God removed the kingdom from Saul and Asa was at war for the rest of his life.
3. Victories of yesterday don’t mean anything today or tomorrow. If we don’t continue relying on him every day, we are capable of make the same mistake.
4. “Rest on every side” isn’t always a good thing. It’s comfortable not to have any trials, but not usually very spiritually beneficial. He hadn’t felt the need for God in such a long time he forgot that he did need him every day. By the time another trial came along, he believed he could handle it on his own. Trials cause frustration and a lot of pain, but they can keep us from the delusion that we can rely on ourselves. That’s why James says “Count it all joy, brothers, whenever you face trials of various kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything (Jms 1:2-4) And Peter in I Pt. 1:6-7 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold…. May be proved genuine and may result in praise… when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
I hope this encourages you and exhorts you to stick it out. Wait for him. You will not be disappointed. His Word is always, always, always true.