Asa: “A Heart Fully Committed”

1 Kings 15:9-15; 2 Chronicles 14-16

June 8, 2008

 

 

Over and over again, from the beginning of Scripture right through to the end, the words of the Lord are the same, no matter to whom they are spoken: “The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you” (2 Chronicles 15:2).

 

This morning we will glance at the life of an early king of Judah, Asa by name, who was one of the better kings of Judah, but could have been right up there with King David if he had finished well.  His life will once again serve as an encouragement and/or a warning depending on whether or not we will but listen to those who speak God’s words.

 

Asa reigned over Judah for 41 years, from 911 to 870 B.C.  Asa followed Abijam who followed Rehoboam, who followed Solomon, who followed King David.  Or put another way, he ruled Judah about 100 years after David firmly established his rule.

 

2 Chronicles 14 tells us that Asa began well making good use of 10 years of relative peace. Scripture records Asa “did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God” (14:2). Spelled out, Asa “removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to obey his laws and commands” (14:3-4). Asa also fortified key cities of Judah (14:5) and rebuilt his army (14:8).  He was quick to give the Lord credit, telling the people, “The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God; we sought him and he has given us rest on every side" (14:7).

 

This profitable time of peace quickly came to an end in 897B.C. when a powerful army of mercenaries, the Nubians, who came to rule Egypt or Cush, invaded from the south.  Faced with overwhelming odds, Asa prayed to the Lord. His prayer is recorded for us:

 

"LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for 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" (14:11).  The results were immediate and astonishing: “Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the LORD and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder” (14:13).

 

Asa’s reign continued to grow even more impressive when he took to heart the words of the Lord’s prophet, Azariah son of Oded, who met Asa along the road returning from his victory over the Cushites. Azariah told him, among other things, “be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded" (15:7).

 

Encouraged by Azariah’s words, Asa “took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD's temple” (15:8). Many godly men and women travelled from the Northern Kingdom for the great sacrifice Asa offered and he led his people into a “covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul” 15:12).

 

The ceremony and Asa’s leadership choices were had such a powerful affect on the nation, “all Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side” (15:15).  This period of peace lasted until the 36^th year of Asa’s reign, because “Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD” (15:17).

 

36 years of success and peace, however, were followed by another challenge.  Asa, however, had become negligent in his spiritual walk and lost his way. The same thing can happen to any of us when things have worked well for a long.  We, too, can find it easy to begin to believe that our success is a product of our own might, will, power, and decision-making.

 

When Baasha, the king of the northern kingdom, saw so many from his kingdom heading south to Jerusalem to worship God, He cut off the travel route south by taking and beginning to fortify Ramah, the city where Samuel once lived.  Ramah was only about four miles north of border between Judah and Israel. 

 

Scripture provides us God’s perspective on this situation, something many of us lack when such things happen in our lives.  We are tempted to ask, “Why does God permit such troubles to come into my life when I have followed Him so closely and so well for so long?  Why can’t I just live out my remaining few (six in Asa’s case) in relative peace?”

 

Hanani the seer, another word for a prophet of God, would tell Asa that God permitted this trouble to come so that his legacy might be made complete in his later years by the destruction of Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus (16:7). 36 years of faithful service “earned” Asa a chance to complete what his earlier life had begun.  God was giving him the opportunity to do something even greater. Instead of praying and learning this from God, Asa took all of the gold valuables he had given to the Lord’s temple and sent them to Ben-Hadad, this same king of Aram that God was giving Asa the chance to destroy, to deliver him from Baasha. While Ben-Hadad’s actions stopped Baasha, Hanani told Asa “from now on you will be at war” (16:9).

 

Asa’s ego compounded his mistake of not listening to Hanani by putting him in prison and brutally oppressing the people who listened to Hanani. Asa thus initiated what would become a legacy of Jewish kings persecuting God’s prophets who brought them unfavorable words. Hanani told Asa, even against greater odds, “when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand for the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (16:8-9). 

 

God was not finished with Asa. God does not give up on us; we just stop listening to Him. God offered Asa one final chance to redeem Himself. Two years from the end of his reign, Asa was troubled with a severe disease in his feet. Scripture records, “Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians (16:12).

 

Early success in life can lead to even greater successes later on if we remember the formula that brought our early success: “The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you.” Our God prepares us throughout life for greater and greater challenges when we learn to rely on Him and always seek His instruction and favor.  When we are faithful with a little, He entrusts more and more to us because He has so much to give to so many.  He wants us to spread His wealth and grace throughout the world.

 

But if we begin to lose connection to the real source of our success, if we begin to believe even for a moment that our success is a result of our own actions and decisions, we set ourselves up for a tremendous fall. Failure can be even harder to overcome if we become so used to success that we forget that no failure is ever final.  When we remember that even in our greatest of defeats God can use “de-feet” to give us another chance to find redemption, we have learned what God has worked so hard to teach us.  A foot problem seems so small compared to an invading army, but the secret to success remains the same:  when we seek the Lord, He will find us.  Man’s science and man’s answers can be useful, but only when God is the source of wisdom and power that activates them.