To start well is great, to finish strong is good too, but
can we remain solid throughout our lives?
King Asa of Judah, great-grandson of David, started out as king with an
amazing amount of piety, zeal, and faith.
He not only rid his people of the plague of idolatry, but he also led
them to victory over an invading army by relying upon the LORD, and followed
that up by leading his people in a rededication ceremony to the Covenant of
Moses. Fifteen years later, Asa, a man
who chose peace over war when his foe was weak, is once again confronted by the
prospect of war. Baasha, the new king of
the kindred of Judah to the north, Israel, has occupied a hill along the road
leading up to Jerusalem, and fortified it.
How
will Asa respond? Up until this point he
has chosen to live by faith, but when this particular trial comes Asa responds
out of fear. Instead of relying upon the
LORD, as he has successfully done previously with spectacular success, Asa
attempts a desperate and underhanded ploy.
King Asa convinces the ally of Baasha of Israel, Ben-Hadad of Aram, to
betray him and instead of helping Baasha attack Judah, Ben-Hadad invades
Israel. The betrayal of Israel was
purchased with the gold and silver of not only Asa’s palace treasury, but the treasury
of the temple of the LORD as well. In
the end, Asa succeeds in defending his kingdom, Baasha if forced to withdraw
from building his fort when his northern villages are captured by Ben-Hadad,
but at a steep cost. Asa sacrificed his
own integrity by outsourcing the sin of another and bears some of the
responsibility for the deaths of his kindred attack by the army he paid to
invade them.
God, in
order to explain to Asa his displeasure, sends him a prophet. The prophet tells Asa that his lack of faith
has not only cost him a chance at lasting peace, but also robbed God of the opportunity
to destroy Ben-Hadad’s army along with the invading army of Baasha. If Asa had continued to trust in God, a far
greater and lasting victory would have been achieved, and without the moral
stain of Asa’s chosen path. Instead, the
kingdom of Aram to the north will continue to plague not only Israel, but
eventually Judah as well.
Asa
could have stood firm, he could have become one of the greatest kings of God’s
people, if only he had continued to trust God.
God is ready to help those who seek him, he told Asa, “For the eyes of
the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully
committed to him.” It isn’t enough to
trust in God, we need to continue in that trust from beginning to end, through
thick and thin. When Asa died, he was
honored by his people as a man who had served God with all his heart, he
deserved that honor, but he could have been much more, if only he had continued
to trust in the LORD.
To watch the video, click on the link below:
No comments:
Post a Comment