Searching For The Faithful

George Muller said, “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.” I’ve entitled our message for this morning, “Searching for the Faithful,” and it’s based on a verse often used in Scripture memory, which is 2 Chronicles 16:9. This verse says, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” The Lord is searching for the faithful. God is seeking those who realize that faith begins where man’s power ends; those who realize that God is bigger than man’s limited wisdom, and those who walk in obedience.

This message addresses the correspondence between faith and obedience. Alexander Maclaren says, “Unbelief is the mother of . . . disobedience. Faith is voluntary submission [to God] . . . If faith is not exercised . . . it lies in the . . . pride of independence, which says, ‘Who is Lord over us? Why should we have to depend on Jesus Christ?’ As faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, but unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion . . . The less one trusts, the more he disobeys; the more he disobeys, the less he trusts.”(1)

This morning we’ll come to see that if we’re walking in disobedience to God, it’s because we have a faith problem and we trust in ourselves; or rather, we trust in man’s help, over the Lord’s help. We’ll come to see how God really wants to show that He is strong on our behalf; that He really wants to work through us; but that He will only work through those who are obedient and faithful.

Relying on People Leads to Defeat (v. 7)

7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.”

In order to understand what’s happening here, we need to back up and take a look at verses 1-6. First of all, I need to mention that during this time period Israel was divided into a Northern and Southern Kingdom; Israel was in the north, Judah was in the south. When we look back a few verses, we discover that King Baasha from Israel (in the north) constructed the city of Ramah in order to stand guard against both travel and trade from going in or coming out of Judah (in the south). Baasha wanted to cut Judah off from the outside world and strangle its economy.

King Asa of Judah responded by seeking help from King Ben-Hadad of Syria. King “Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house” (v. 2), in order to compensate Ben-Hadad for his support; and Ben-Hadad took him up on his offer and attacked Israel’s cities (in the north) until King Baasha surrendered Ramah. Judah then dismantled Ramah and used the building materials to construct two of its own cities – Geba and Mizpah.

Now, Asa did make a personal sacrifice and offer some of his own treasure; however, he also took from the Lord’s treasure in the temple. Hanani the seer was chastising Asa for turning to a human being for help instead of seeking assistance from the Lord’s mighty hand; and Asa offering the Lord’s treasure in order to pay for this human support was like the “icing on the cake,” so to speak. Asa demonstrated his lack of faith in God’s protection by offering something of God to this pagan nation.

Some of us would look at Asa’s response and think, “Well what’s wrong with what he did? He sought help from someone else. Aren’t we more successful when we network with other people and work together in problem solving?” Pastor Pat Butcher, who’s an acquaintance of mine, once told me he firmly believes that often we’re only one relationship away from the Lord opening a door of opportunity for us; and I agree with him. Often we must build relationships and rely on people for help.

Seeking help from others is not entirely bad, and in fact God works through relationships. The church is a prime example. Henry Blackaby says that one of the vehicles through which God speaks to His people is through the body of Christ, or the church, which is the collective collaboration of God’s children. In Romans 12:5 we read, “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” We are members of one another, meaning that we’re interlinked and that we must lean on one another for support and guidance in the Christian walk.