“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” …2 Chronicles 16:9
Way back deep in the Old Testament was a king that perhaps may have passed through time with very little notice except for how he ended his reign…in fact, how he ended his life. Asa was king of Judah during a time when the whole of Israel was split in half. What made him stand out was that he began quite well, and in fact at one time found himself in the place of great blessing because he did what was “right in the eyes of the Lord” …in a time when few found the ‘mo’ to do so. (2 Chr 14:2) But Asa did not finish well! Many biblical characters as well as many modern folks have followed that same road…starting off with the best of intentions, but finishing with a crash.
Early in his rule, Asa experienced some awesome victories because He sought God and God alone to intervene on his behalf. In chapter 14, verse 11…he prayed “Lord…it is nothing for you to help…whether with many or those who have no power! We rest on you, and on you we go to battle…” He was a man committed! He was a winner because God made him one, and furthermore, he knew it. He subsequently watched God give him victory after victory.
But then something inexplicably happened. It happened just as strangely as it happens to so many of us today. After all the victories at the hand of God…after all Asa saw and experienced allowing God to control the field of play, he decided one day to take matters into his own hands. Was it fear? Or was in overconfidence? Did he somewhere along the way decide he actually had something to do with what was happening around him other than obedience and reverence? We may never know on this side of heaven. But something happened! For suddenly Asa decides that even though God had handled every enemy and provided for every need up until then, he (Asa) needed to now ‘step up’ and ‘grab the bull by the horns.’ So Asa at this juncture takes what belonged to God and His church, and moved to give it instead to a neighboring king…king Ben-Hadad of Syria, in attempt to build an alliance with him so that Asa could feel safe and could prosper even with greater conquests.
But there was one guy…a prophet by the name of Hanani, who came to Asa and gave it to him straight. There is always that ‘one guy’ who loves enough to ‘step into the breech.’ Nanani reminded Asa of all that God had done and how God had blessed him and had had his back every step of the way. But in typical style, Asa did not receive such council well at all, and in fact, he moved to shut this prophet down by throwing him ‘under the bus’ . Asa began…in his anger…a season of “venting” and persecuted all the people around him. Not because they had done anything, but because they were simply ‘there’ and therefore in the way of his spewing anger. He was mad and he didn’t care who he hurt. Someone was to blame for his unhappiness and failure and it sure wasn’t him, so everyone around him was a receiver of his frustrated emotions. Mad only because someone dared not support his actions…dared to go against his decisions!
Sadly, we are so very adept at repeating history. So many of us will begin well…experiencing the awe of God as He manifests His presence and power in our very own personal realm. We were amazed! We worshipped and gave Him glory! But eventually that day came where God asked that we go out in faith based on what He had already done for us. He, in essence, asks us to trust Him. And it is at that junction that we so often will fail him and turn instead to our own power, our own comforts, and our own abilities..to those things that we can see with our own two eyes. We frankly just tell God “no.”
The bottom line is that we in fact can grow to trust ourselves more than we trust God, and certainly more than we trust those advisors around us that we always used to lovingly look to for council and comfort. We, after all, “have a plan” of our own! And we don’t need anyone else getting up in our face! So we bite and devour those around us, and deal with those we once loved as if they are not only our enemy, but worse, like they are actually the cause of the fallout of our rebellion against God!
Asa now had ‘blazed a new trail’ for himself. One that he ultimately never returned from. Pride has that kind of power over us! It is the monster that will consume us when we grow afraid…or grow impatient…or grow jealous…or grow arrogant. God “will show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him.” But when our hearts become loyal only to ourselves, we consume those around us that we once professed love for, and close our ears to God’s guidance that He desires to give. After which, we end like Asa ended. Asa found it much easier after this ‘fork in the road’ to reject God first in his life and turned to his own strength and the worlds ways to answer the needs of his life. Some ‘crossings’ can be the path of no return when repentance and humility is rejected.
Asa wouldn’t hear it. And if you have ‘crossed over’ in that aspect before God, neither will you. But if you stand at the crossroads today, and you have yet to make that plunge, it is perhaps not too late for you. Remember what God has done in your life! Remember the “red sea partings” and the “miraculous rebirth” of a life that was dead. Remember those around you that are today telling you what you don’t want to hear, and how they have loved you and rained grace down on you as you grew up in Christ. Because God is looking around the world for those who are loyal to Him…around the world for those for whom He can “show Himself strong.”
Whose strength are you looking to?