Yesterday in 2 Chronicles we read about King Asa of Judah who
(in the parlance of 1066 and All That), was a ‘good king’. Not only did he do
what was right in the eyes of the Lord (2 Chronicles 14:2), but, when it came
to the crunch in a crucial battle with the Cushites, Asa calls upon the Lord –
relying upon Him to defeat the enemy (2 Chronicles 14:11-13).
However in today’s reading it all goes wrong. This time the
military threat comes from Baasha king of Israel, and instead of turning to the
Lord as he did before, Asa puts his faith in a deal with Ben-Hadrad of Aram: in
exchange for a pile of treasures Ben-Hadrad agrees to switch sides. Baasha
backs off and the situation is (apparently) resolved. God, however, is not
pleased – he sends Hanani the seer to chastise Asa for putting his faith in his
own resources instead of relying on the Lord as he did during the Cushite
episode. Asa responds by going further off the rails – imprisoning Hanani and
oppressing his people. The next time Asa gets into difficulty – this time with
some sort of foot disease - he again refuses to rely on the Lord, turning to
his doctors instead – yet another dumb move! Two years later he’s dead.
This is a hard lesson in the dangers of taking our
relationship with God for granted. No matter how strong our faith in Him today,
it is all too easy to succumb to the temptation to switch our allegiance of
faith to the resources of ourselves or of the world.
(member of the congregation)