When my oldest son was little, he was given a children’s bible. As any good, Christian parent would do, we began reading that bible to him every night. When he was younger, he didn’t really understand, but he began to know the stories and could repeat them back. However, the time came when that children’s bible was just too little for him.
That year for his birthday we bought him his own big boy bible. As with most people, we then struggled with what to read. The children’s bible had been easy. The next day you just read the next story. Since he was just starting children’s quizzing and they were covering the book of Genesis, we decided to start in the book of Genesis as well. When we finished Genesis we continued on to Exodus, then Leviticus, etc. We skipped some sections and censored others, mostly because we didn’t want to have those conversations yet. However, we essentially began reading the bible straight through. It was interesting, because it was the first time I’d really paid attention to books such as 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, or Nehemiah. It gave me a new appreciation for the Old Testament which brings us to our story today of King Asa.
As I read the story of King Asa with my son, the further I went into the story the more interesting it became. 1 Kings had mentioned him, but 2 Chronicles gave much more detail about his life. It’s like when you catch a movie halfway through. In the end, it’s still a good movie, but when you go back and watch the whole thing, everything seems to make more sense.
We’ll be reading from 2 Chronicles 16, but before we do that, I want to give you the first part of the movie. The story of the kingdom of Israel started back when God called a man, Abraham and promised to make him into a great nation and give his children the land of Canaan. Through the generations, Abraham’s descendants ended up as slaves in Egypt for roughly 400 years. At this time God raised up a man named Moses who led them out of slavery and, eventually, to the land previously promised.
God commanded the Israelites to conquer the people living in Canaan and to settle the promised land. They did most of what God had commanded and lived in the land for many years with God as their king. Eventually they weren’t happy with having God as a king. The Israelites demanded that God give them a human king so that they could be like everyone else. God ended up giving them what they asked for, and Saul from the tribe of Benjamin became the first king of Israel. However, Saul had some problems and God ended up taking the kingdom from him and giving it to David. David followed God, and God promised David that his lineage would reign over Israel forever.
by Cornelis de Vos
David didn’t live a perfect life, but scripture describes him as a man after God’s own heart. Eventually David died and his son Solomon became King. Solomon built God a beautiful temple, but he began to worship idols as well and introduced them to the people of Israel. Just before Solomon died, a prophet came to a man named Jeroboam and told him that God was going to divide the kingdom in two and make him king over the other half.
After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king. Through a series of events, the kingdom was split just as the prophet of God had said. Jeroboam became king of Israel, and Rehoboam, son of Solomon, became king of the second nation called Judah. Needless to say, there was bad blood between the nations of Israel and Judah for quite a while after that.
Over the generations each kingdom had a number of kings. However, none of them were particularly great at following God. This brings us to 2 Chronicles 14 as Asa becomes king of Judah. Asa was different from many of the other kings (2 Chronicles 14:2). He sought after God. Right there he’s a step above many of the other kings. He began to tear down and smash the altars of the fake gods and called all Judah to worship God alone. Because of this, God gave him peace. He took the opportunity to fortify his cities and build up his armies.
Towards the end of 2 Chronicles 14, about ten years into the reign of King Asa, we find that the great army of the Cushites came knocking at his door. This army had him outnumbered, but he went out to face them. As he was standing on the battlefield preparing to go to war, he calls out to God for help (2 Chronicles 14:11) and that day, God delivered them. Not only did they win the war against this vast army; they completely decimated them to the point that they were unable to recover.
As he was returning home he was greeted by the prophet Azariah. In front of all the people Azariah proclaimed, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. 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).
After this, King Asa praised God and made sacrifices. This bolstered him to continue what he’d been doing in turning Judah back to God. Over the next five years he continued to destroy idols and kill the false prophets. He was so serious about this that at the end of chapter 15 it tells us that he essentially kicked his grandmother out because she continued to make idols and worship them. He continued to serve God and brought much gold and silver to the temple and dedicated it to God. Because of all of this, he enjoyed peace until the 35th year of his reign. That’s 20 years of peace for those keeping track.
After everything King Asa did to bring Judah back to God and after the peace and prosperity he saw as a result, we’d expect to see King Asa end his days praising God and being blessed. I want us to take a look at the five or six years of King Asa’s reign as we pick up in 2 Chronicles 16:1-14.
King Asa had every reason to trust God. He had first hand experience of the benefits of following God. He had lived the message of the prophet Azariah when he said, “The LORD is with you when you are with him.” He had personally experienced God’s deliverance in a miraculous way. However, after 20 years of peace and prosperity, he became complacent. No longer did he seek after God. He began to trust in his own abilities and resources. As such, when troubles came, consulting God was the farthest thing from his mind.
By An illustrator of Petrus Comestor’s Bible Historiale, France, 1372
Unfortunately, this is not uncommon in our lives. King Asa had been on fire for God. They say that people have more potential to win souls for Christ within the first six months to a year after coming to faith in him. During that time we are on fire. We’re excited and want to tell the whole world about Jesus. However, as we grow older, that fire fades and we grow complacent. We all have those times in our lives when we were younger. Times when we had no choice but to trust in God, and He came though in an amazing way. Those stories that we tell every time the pastor asks for testimonies.
As time went on, King Asa built up his savings account. He had been faithful to God and God provided for him. However, in his prosperity, he no longer felt the need to seek God. When the Cushites came to his door, he had to rely upon God because there was no way he could do it himself. Yet when Israel rose up against them, he took from the temple treasury and used his vast resources to take care of the problem himself.
In the end he no longer sought after God. He had forsaken God, and when God sent a messenger to tell him, he threw him in prison. Many times we can fall into the same trap. In our youth we’re on fire for God. We rely upon him and seek him because we know we can’t do it on our own. As a result of our faithfulness God blesses us. Yet with our good jobs as well as both savings and retirement accounts, our focus shifts from God to ourselves.
It’s easy in to become complacent and comfortable. When we have money in the bank or people to lean upon, we begin to become comfortable. We don’t forget about those difficult times when God helped us. We testify about it and praise him for it, but do we still seek him as we did back then? When the new troubles arise, do we seek God or try to take care of it ourselves? That broken car we prayed about 20 years ago, today, we dip into savings. When we receive bad news from the doctor, the doctor has a treatment plan, so we don’t need to worry about it. Do we stop and seek God in those times or do we try to handle it ourselves? Do we look at the situation and say that this is exactly why God blessed us?
