Sometimes the real issue is not the pressing issue. Sometimes a more basic principle is at play that we dare not violate. Especially when we think we can handle a tricky situation ourselves, we can choose an expedient solution, only to find that we’ve made the situation far worse. The devil’s most effective time of getting us to stumble can be when we least expect it.
That’s what happened to Asa, and because of this he brought a judgment on himself:
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.
Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” – 2Chr 16:7-9
Judgments are often ironic. Asa sought to avoid a war, but instead he ensured that wars would not cease during his reign.
And the irony didn’t end there. Asa was angry with Hanani for pronouncing the judgment, and he placed him in stocks. This probably meant his feet were in locks. The next thing the Bible tells us is that Asa himself became severely diseased in his own feet. Sadly, the man who at one time had relied so strongly on the Lord rather than on man now sought physicians rather than God. The implication is that had he sought God, God would have healed a spiritually-generated ailment that man could not heal. Indeed, we can see how God would want the disease to draw Asa back to Him, and would disallow a healing by physicians that would disrupt that process.
Asa died with his diseased feet. But the Bible twice states that his heart was perfect toward the Lord “all his days”, and it indicates that he died in good grace. This, despite the fact that the high places were not entirely cleaned up, and despite the mistakes of enlisting heathen help against Israel, of punishing the prophet, and of not seeking the Lord regarding his diseased feet.
It’s a bipolar, “thrill of victory, agony of defeat” kind of story. Through it, God challenges us to trust in Him for an empowerment that goes far beyond anything our natural strength could provide. He promises that if we will trust Him, then power, deliverance and victory will be ours. But if we fail to take up the challenge of faith, we are then left to our own devices, which are meager indeed.
There’s a comforting subtext here as well. Even though Asa’s reforms were not totally completed, and even though he made mistakes, and drew back from dynamically trusting God for victory, his heart still remained with God all his days.
God is for us, not against us. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That’s our safety net for when we blow it. If Asa’s heart was deemed perfect toward the Lord despite his failings, then surely the Lord does not want us to spend one moment in regret, remorse, or worldly sorrow.
If like Asa we’ve made mistakes, or simply drawn back from a dynamic faith, and sought relief the wisdom of man rather than God, then God wants us to get up and get back in the game. He wants us to rise up and once again take the faith challenge and get back in the race.
Like Asa, maybe we look back and say, “I wasn’t able to take down all those high places”. But God does not want us looking back, He wants us looking to Him. And He’s set before us plans for good, not for evil. The more we look to Him rather than to man’s wisdom, the more power we will have to overcome our circumstances.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.
So let’s determine to follow the good part of the example that Asa left us. Let’s be content with neither the status quo nor our natural abilities, and let’s press forward to the high call of God in Christ Jesus.
