Depending on the LORD

(2 Chronicles 14-16)

Asa is one of the few kings of Judah who is described as one who did what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD. In order to show his devotion to the God of his ancestors, he began his reign by purging the idolatry of the previous generations. He removed the foreign altars and high places of worship from the land, smashed their sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He even went so far as to depose his own grandmother from her position as queen mother because she engaged in the despicable worship of Asherah. Asa cut down the idol she had made, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. He commanded the people of Judah to seek and obey Yahweh, and Him alone.

Because king Asa chose to seek the LORD and depend on Him, God gave him peace on every side for almost all the years of his kingship. Since the kingdom was at peace, Asa was able to focus on building up and fortifying towns for Judah, and the people continued to prosper as the LORD gave them rest.

However, eventually the Cushites came to attack with an army of thousands upon thousands. And yet, even while facing such an overwhelming battle, Asa’s dependence on God was not shaken. He humbly called out to the LORD in prayer for help saying, “LORD, there is no one like You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this vast army. LORD, You are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against You.”

God answered Asa’s prayer and struck down the Cushites who fled from Asa and his army. Judah came away from the battle victorious and with much plunder because the Cushites were crushed by the LORD and His forces.

When Asa and his troops returned to Jerusalem, the Spirit of God came on a prophet named Azariah who urged the people of Judah and Benjamin to continue to depend on God with these words, “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.” Azariah reminded them of their nation’s history and how they had experienced great turmoil and distress because of their sins until they repented and turned back to the LORD and sought Him once again. “But as for you,” he concluded, “be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”

King Asa took courage from the prophet’s words and ensured that worship to the one true God was practiced throughout his entire kingdom, including the towns he had captured in battle. He made sure that all the idols were removed, and repaired the altar of the LORD in the temple. Then he brought together a huge assembly of all the people, including not only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but also people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them in large numbers because they saw that the LORD was with Asa. They all assembled together in Jerusalem, and sacrificed to the LORD thousands of cattle, sheep, and goats from the plunder they had brought back from battle. They wholeheartedly made an oath to the LORD with much shouting and rejoicing. They sought the LORD eagerly, and He was found by them. And once again, the LORD gave them rest from their enemies on every side. There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of king Asa’s reign.

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, king Baasha of Israel marched out against Judah and fortified the city of Ramah in order to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Judah. Unfortunately, this time, Asa chose to turn to his own resources rather than looking to God for help. He took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the LORD’s temple as well as from his own palace, and sent them to Ben-Hadad the king of Aram in order to bribe him into breaking his treaty with Baasha and asking him to form a treaty with Asa instead. The king of Aram agreed, and he sent forces against the towns of Israel. The plan worked, and king Baasha withdrew from Ramah.

But a prophet named Hanani came to king Asa and rebuked him for his failure to depend on God. “Weren’t the Cushites a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen?” he reminded Asa, “Yet when you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” The prophet told Asa that he had done a foolish thing by relying on the king of Aram instead of on the LORD, and that as a consequence he would be at war from then on.

Asa did NOT accept this correction well. He was so furious that he had the prophet thrown into prison. He even brutally oppressed some of his own people.

A couple years later, near the end of his life, king Asa’s feet became diseased. But even though his illness was severe, he refused to seek help from the LORD and only consulted physicians.

Finally, after ruling Judah for forty-one years, Asa died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David.

There are SO many great lessons for us in this story, and they all seem to tie back to the importance of depending on God….

King Asa brought reform and revival to Judah by ridding the land of idolatry. We see the problem of idol worship coming up over and over again in the history of God’s people. It seems to be their number one problem. And I think if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll realize that idolatry is our own number one problem too. Essentially, all sin is idolatry. It’s trusting in created things rather than in the Creator. Whether we’re depending on ourselves and our own abilities or resources, or whether we’re looking to the affection and praise of other people, or to things such as status, wealth/material possessions, comfort, safety, personal accomplishments, or even success in ministry, whatever it is that we turn to try and find satisfaction or fulfillment, those things become idols the second our trust or hope in them becomes greater than our trust in God. If we want to experience personal revival in our lives and learn to depend more on Jesus, it starts with casting aside the idols of our hearts and making Christ the center of our worship once again.

The result of the reforms that Asa instituted at the beginning of His reign was peace. When Judah sought the LORD and was obedient to His commands the kingdom was at peace and experienced rest from their enemies on every side. Obedience is important if we want to experience the blessing of God in our lives. The book of Deuteronomy lays out the blessings for our obedience and curses for our disobedience. But the problem is that we constantly sin and fall short of God’s commands to love Him and others. We deserve all of the curses of disobedience and none of the blessings of obedience. Which is exactly why Jesus became a curse for us so that we could receive the blessings earned by His perfect obedience. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t still seek to obey God, because obedience is the best response to the love He has given (John 14:15 says if we love Him, we will obey Him). But I am saying that we cannot depend on our own obedience to save us. It’s only by depending on the finished work of Christ on the cross that we can receive peace with God, along with every other spiritual blessing.

Asa was able to work on building up the fortified cities of Judah because the land was at peace. When we’re at peace with God, we become free to build God’s kingdom. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 illustrates that we have been given a responsibility to steward whatever we’ve been entrusted in order to build the kingdom of God. Everything we have been given – from the Gospel itself, to our spiritual gifts, to our time and energy, to our physical and financial resources is intended to be put to use and invested for the multiplication of God’s kingdom. But once again, this is not something we can expect to accomplish on our own. We are dependent on not only the gifts we’ve been given, but on the Spirit of God within us enabling us to put them to use. Just as Christ’s righteousness is a gift of grace, and peace with God is a gift of grace, so too the privilege of participating in kingdom work is a gift of grace. In all of it, we are dependent on Jesus to be the source of every good thing.

As our story continues and conflict arises, we continue to see Asa’s dependence on the LORD. Asa was already living rightly during the years of peace, so he was ready to respond with a heart that was dependent on God when his enemies came to attack. If we’re following Jesus, sooner or later we will experience attacks from the enemy. But when we’re actively seeking the LORD and building our relationship with Him and living for His kingdom in times of peace and prosperity, we’ll be better positioned and prepared to ground ourselves in Him when attacks come our way.

And when those attacks come, they will likely force us to depend on God even more deeply. Asa’s prayer for help shows that he was well aware that the vast army of the Cushites was much more than he was equipped to handle, and yet he showed faith and confidence in God’s ability to deliver him. He knew that he could not be victorious without God’s divine intervention. Times will come when we’re facing overwhelming difficulties or impossible circumstances. When Asa felt “powerless against the mighty,” he looked to the LORD to be his rescuer. We can have confidence in our mighty God and His ability to deliver and help us, even in the most impossible of situations, when we have no power or strength of our own.

So how did Asa go from a place of such dependence on God, to trying to do things on his own the next time around? He had experienced victory through dependence on the LORD in one impossible battle, but when the next attack arose, he tried to manage things himself. Personally, I find it’s scary how quickly I can go from a place of crying out to God for help one minute and then thinking I’ve got things figured out or under control the next minute. When things are falling apart and I don’t know where else to go, I will turn to Him. But as soon as things start going well, my pride rears its ugly head and I start to give myself credit for things that I never could have accomplished without Jesus. I stop relying on Him and start thinking that I’m doing a pretty good job on my own, when in reality those are the moments when I need Him the most. It’s altogether too easy to forget our dependence on the LORD, which is part of why He allows us to undergo trials; to keep us humble.

We are never not dependent on God. And yet, initially, Asa’s strategy worked. He was able to make the alliance he wanted using his own plan and resources, and his enemy withdrew, just like he had hoped. The dangerous fact of the matter is that there are things we can actually accomplish in our flesh. But things of eternal significance and lasting value, we cannot do without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. I recently heard a message about the parable of the fig tree that Jesus cursed where the speaker talked about how the leaves represent empty works, while the figs (or rather, the lack thereof) represent the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in our hearts. Jesus cursed the tree because its leaves were an indication that the figs should be ripe, but there wasn’t a single fig to be found. Like the fruitless fig tree, we can have an appearance of godliness with no power (2 Timothy 3:5). We can go to church, pray, read our Bibles, give to the poor, and do countless other “good” Christian acts, without ever really knowing God. We can do all the right things, but not actually have a vital relationship with Jesus. He is the Vine, and we are the branches. It’s only by abiding in Him, remaining in Him, and depending on Him that we can produce fruit showing ourselves to be His disciples. Without a continual heart connection with the Father, all our deeds are worthless – even if they have the outward appearance of success like the leaves on a tree, or like Asa’s initial military win.

When confronted with his lack of dependence on God, Asa refused to repent. He was angry and aggressive, and never again sought the LORD’s help even when inflicted with a serious disease. You may wonder what had changed since the beginning of our story when he was so ready to rid the land of idolatry and seek the LORD. I wonder if this time, the sin was a little too close to home. When it came to the nation’s worship practices, he was willing to make reforms. But when it came to his own heart posture, it wasn’t so easy to change. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve all been guilty of failure to depend on God at one point or another. It’s much too easy to trust in our own devices and do things our own way.(Isaiah 53:6) But the important thing is not whether we fail, for we surely will, but whether or not we will then humble ourselves to confess and repent. No matter how many times we fall, Jesus will graciously forgive us when we repent and turn back to Him.

May we each learn from Asa’s story and seek to depend wholeheartedly on the LORD both in times of peace and in times of trial. And when we trust in idols or in ourselves, may we be quick to repent of our fruitlessness and return to our Father who is eager to welcome us back into His loving arms.