There came a time in the history of God's chosen people, the Israelites, when the twelve tribes were split into two nations. This happened during Rehoboam's reign, when a man named Jeroboam led a revolt against him. Jeroboam was a sinful man; he lived in defiance of God, leading astray everyone who followed him. So when he seized the throne of Israel, it became a nation ruled by false gods and generally sinful living. Rehoboam, along with those Hebrews who still remained loyal to the Lord, retreated to the land of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; they formed their own nation, called Judah, and continued to worship and seek the Lord at the Temple in Jerusalem. From that day forward, Judah and Israel existed at odds with each other, and were often at war.
Fast forward two generations. Asa was king of Judah; Baasha, of Israel. King Asa was a righteous, holy man, and loyal to God; he set a good example for the people of Judah, and did not allow them to follow the pagan practices of Israel. God saw this and blessed Asa with peace and a prosperous kingdom for thirty-five years.
Then a Cushite named Zerah went to war against Asa. Now, Asa had a sizeable army- 580,000 highly capable soldiers. But Zerah? Zerah had an army of
over a million! When Asa saw that the opposing army was twice as large as his, he did the right thing- he went straight to God.
"Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, '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 men prevail against you.'" (2 Chronicles 14:11)And that's exactly what happened. The Judaens relied on God, and He gave them the victory, even though they were so ridiculously outnumbered. They put all their trust in Him- all their eggs in His basket- and He came through for them. But unfortunately, Asa let the success go to his head.
Some time later, King Baasha of Israel began to fortify the border with Judah, threatening an attack against Asa. And despite the great miracle that God had worked earlier in Asa's life, and despite the fact that Israel was a lot less powerful than Zerah's army of a million, Asa didn't trust God to come through this time. Instead, he went and recruited human help: the king of Aram. Aram allied with Judah, and they successfully captured several Israelite towns and extinguished the threat from Baasha. But the victory came at a price.
As King Asa was enjoying his victory, a prophet of the Lord came up to him and told him that since he had relied on the king of Aram and not God, Judah would lose the peace they had been enjoying and be defeated in battle by Aram later on. Asa turned angry and bitter when he heard this; he arrested the prophet and began to oppress the Judaens. He turned away from God completely, refusing to ask for His help even on his deathbed. Asa ended up dying in sin and disgrace in the eyes of the Lord, and all because he had rejected the help that God wanted to give him.
You see, after God provided for him against the army of over a million, Asa soon took Him for granted. He quickly forgot what it felt like to
need God, to be on your knees begging for His
help because you
know you can't save yourself. And so when trouble came, he didn't go the Source of eternal life and strength, the one that he couldn't see. Rather, he went to the king of Aram, a source of tangible strength that he
could see, and understand.
The problem is, human strength only goes so far and only lasts so long. But
God is eternal; he's the Beginning, the End, and everything in between. God is the God of creation, of all the beauty and majesty of the world that He created in His own power. He is the same God who became flesh and dwelled among us, who healed the blind, calmed the seas, raised the dead to life- again in His own power. The Lord is capable of greater things than we could ever hope for or imagine...
and yet Asa traded God's unlimited power for the limited power of man. And why? Because he didn't have faith in God's fidelity. Because it was
easier for him to put his trust in something he could see, rather than betting every last cent on the Almighty God.
Asa
settled for less, and he
got less. But we don't have to settle. God is willing and capable of taking what we entrust to Him and then blessing us with it beyond our wildest imaginations.
"For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." (2 Chronicles 16:9)And so, the message is this: When the Lord has blessed you the way that He blessed Asa, don't take it for granted. Remember the times when you needed Him most desperately and how He came through for you then. Look back on your life and force yourself to see how far He's brought you, and the kind of sins He's lead you out of- don't pretend that you were always in this peaceful state of resting in the Lord. Most of all, never forget the things that He has done for you and the powerful way that He has loved you, so that when your faith is tested, you can point to your spiritual journey and say, "He brought me through all that; He can surely conquer this."
