King Asa, Rely.
Last week, I talked about a King of Judah, by the name of? (Asa) Prior to him the nation of Israel had other kings three reasonably onto it Kings, being who? (Kings Saul, David and Solomon). Then came King Solomon’s son ?, (King Rehoboam who as I mentioned last week was a hard and dictatorial king, who turned away from the Lord God and took his nation with him. ) Then his son King ? (Abidjah). Who was followed by King Asa. Now all of these kings were powerful people and all of them knew about God; but their track records where not always the smartest when it came to doing the will of God.
As I mentioned last week there was quite a change with King Asa and the rest of Judah his nation seeking God in their lives and as a nation. This came about through the prophet Azariah telling King Asa this thing, “If you seek him [him being God] he will be found in you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” (2 Chronicles 15:2b)
You might recall that the Hebrew word for ‘seek’ had a bit more meaning than the English word for seek, this Hebrew word dāra´, was as much about seeking God as it is about seeking out our own attitude to God. This is about how we are on the inside, in our spirit, that inner place where we are honest with ourselves, if indeed we are honest with ourselves.
Well King Asa and his merry tribes of Benjamin and Judea had a pretty good time of it as they sought after God; in fact they had the best time of things as far as Hebrew people go for quite some time. Why, because they dāra´[ed] after God, working out their relationship with him, understanding how they should live in relationship with him and what it was about themselves that may be keeping them from God. King Asa was the man who got the nation back on track with God and others came into the nation as they saw God at work in Judea.
If we look at verses 12 to 14 of chapter 15 we even read these words, “They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their Fathers with all their heart and soul. All who would not seek the Lord the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great man or woman. They took an oath to the Lord etc etc.”
Now this was a serious covenant, nothing wishy-washy about any of it. I think that the naysayers soon came into line as the options around non conformity were a little limited. Remember this was people making these decisions; the King was all powerful, what he said back in the day was law. In fact a bit further down the chapter we read that “All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly and he was found by them…” (vs 15)
King Asa continued to do great things, there was more nasty stuff removed from his nation and the temple of God went ahead with leaps and bounds as the King brought good stuff into the temple of God. It appears right down to the end of Chapter 15 everything was just wonderful. Judah had a great old chapter 15, right down to the last verse that reads, “There was war no more until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.” (vs 19).
Then what happened? I looks like chapter 16 is not quite the easy going, all is going to be a box of fluffy ducks chapter, that chapter 15 was.
Another King came on the scene! Jeroboam King of Israel had died, Nadab King of Israel was killed by his successor ………a bad egg, a really nasty bit of goods bloke by the name of Baasha who was now king of Israel, “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord…” (1 Kings 15:34a).
So Let’s have a look at chapter 16 and see what happened. Verses 1-6.
So there was a political alliance made with the King of Aram against Asa’s fellow Israelites in the North and the gold and silver came from the temple to pay for this venture. Bad move?!!!
So from verses 6 down to 14 what happened next?
There is two things that become pretty evident in this situation, God had wanted to help King Asa and Judah but instead King Asa had relied on a foreign king. This could have a few interesting parallels in our own lives.
So Asa got all scared and worried about the Israelites his extended family as they were, and asked for help from the King of Aram…not help from God.
1) Long story short, how often do we do this we get worried or in some cases proud, and we forget about God, or sometimes we may not forget about God but we ask him to stand aside while we do it on our own. I wonder if this is what King Asa was up to, “It’s okay God just move out of the way while I sought this battle, this relationship, this addiction, debt, worry out for myself”. We had the example back in Chapter 14 of God going before Asa and Judah and winning the war with the Cushites. But no. King Asa sorts this one out for himself and gets a message via a God message bloke by the name of Hanani, that he, King Asa should have relied on God. What does Hanani say to the King? “Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them [the Cushites and Libyans] into your hand” Why? “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.” (vs 9)
So King Asa says, “Whoops I've blown it I need to sort my act out! Like blue billy goats he does! He chucks the message from God bloke in prison. Outstanding result and response to God I don’t think. Not only had that he also brutally oppressed some of the people. I don’t suppose we ever bite the hand or criticise a person who wants to help correct a damaging behaviour or attitude that we have?
So what King Asa should have been doing here was relying on God for God wanted to help King Asa. It comes back to that, “if you seek after him he will be found by you, but if you forsake him he will forsake you.” (Ch 15 vs 2b)
2) The interesting thing here is that if you look at the kings prior to and after Asa some of their track records were a bit like this. They would get it right, they would nail the whole seeking God in a dāra´, kind of way thing, they would rely on God and God would be there strengthening them. God would help them reign, ensuring that all went well for the nation; some of them built great histories with God. Then self-reliance, or pride, or fear would kick in, they would do it their way. Their time as king would end, which is a bit unfortunate really because this usually occurred at the same time that their lives ended. You will notice that with King Asa he got a disease in his feet and it is said, “Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians.” King Asa died, they buried him and light a huge bonfire in his honour. Yeap; a huge celebration for King Asa, but what more could he have achieved if he had relied on God?
[Please note that if you are ill, you should still go to the doctor. I don’t want any one coming to me saying that they've gone off their meds because they are going to rely only on God. Doctors are trained medical professionals. Without them many of us would be in serious trouble.]
Maybe Asa and the rest of these Kings should have rote learned Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”
3) For us it leaves us that word ‘if’ becomes very important again. If I rely on God, if, I focus on his desire for my life how will it work out? Then what will happen?
The thing with these kings with King Asa was they were powerful men; castles, cash, women, chariots, armies, they had them all and often in huge abundance. But what they all really could not do without was seeking after and relying on God. But they got clever and to the point where they knew better than the creator of the universe, the God who knows whose hearts are fully committed to him. If God can know our hearts and in this sense the word heart means; whole being, “inner person, the seat of thought and emotion: courage, mind, and understanding.” (The Strongest NIV Concordance; 4222) If God can know us that well, why would we not rely on him and his desire for our lives?
But how often do we not rely on God. I have to be really blunt with myself on this, there are times when I haven’t. Do you as individuals rely on God, knowing that he desires to strengthen you? How often are we found to be doing foolish things because we are not relying on God?
What about as congregation? As Salvationists are we totally reliant on God?
What more are we able to do for God’s kingdom, to bring those in need of a relationship with Jesus into a place where they can meet with him. Are we sharing our God story our journey of being reconciled with God with others. Or are we just holding onto our faith and keeping personal and in a place where we feel safe. As we rely on God in our hearts, with our whole being…he strengthens us, as we share he strengthens us, as we do spiritual battle he strengthens us!
Can we grow reliant on our past encounters like these Kings had? Do we need to rely on God in the present and pursue his current desire for us?
I know that ‘if’ we do seek after him he will be found by us, that ‘if’ we in our personal and congregational lives rely on him, he will do things that will surprise us as we do seek and rely. God desires that we do rely on him. As we do then our own life journeys will become, our Corps journey will be one of seeing God’s kingdom come and his will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
I don’t know about you but when I get to the end of my earthly journey I want to be known for being a man who sought after God and relied in God…so that God’s strength could be seen at work in me…so that lives were changed for good and for God wherever I’ve been.
Are you ready to rely on God; are you ready to see his desire for your life, his desire for this Corps and in relying on God to see his desire for you be the focus of your life, of this congregation? If so live a life that will change your heart, your family, your neighbourhood, this congregation, city and world on an eternal scale. Focus on God, seek and desire after God and he will strengthen you!
