FOUL STENCH OF PRIDE

 

Asa is the grandson to Rehoboam, and is king of Judah.  Unlike his father, Abijam, and his grandfather, Rehoboam, 2 Chronicles 14 reports that Asa "did good and right in the sight of the Lord his God."  He removes altars to idols; he builds fortified cities with walls, towers, and gates; and he has a large army of 300,000 men.  Asa calls upon the Lord his God concerning warfare.  It seems that Asa is doing right.  About the 35th year, Asa begins to relax his commitments to the Lord.  It has been peaceful in the kingdom for years.  One would think that Asa would remember what works and what is totallydefeating for him and his kingdom, but we see a major lapse of being alert to the wiles of the evil one.

In this 35th year, the king of Israel, Baasha decides to come against Judah and King Asa.  Instead of going to the Lord for His plan of action, he brings out all the silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and his own home and sends them to the king of Aram, Ben-hadad.  He wants to buy his protection asking King Ben-hadad to join him in fighting King Baasha.  A prophet comes to King Asa, and gives him God's verdict on his going to Ben-hadad without asking HIM.."Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand."   Ben-hadad whom he trusts to be his protection, will become his enemy.  The prophet further states that since "he has acted foolishly in this...from now on you will surely have wars."  14:9.  Asa becomes so angry that he imprisons the prophet.  By the 39th year, Asa has a severe disease, and again, read the record, "yet even in his disease he would not seek the Lord, but the physicians."  

Understand, this is NOT a statement against physicians, but rather, that "he would not seek the Lord".  So far, the older I am becoming, I HAVE NOT FOUND A TIME NOT TO SEEK THE LORD!  Asa became lax in his commitment to the Lord when he and his kingdom were prospering, but when the press of circumstances came, he TRIED TO FIX THE PROBLEM HIS WAY.  Psalm 19:13, David's prayer, "Also keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins."  Presumptuous/Arrogance/Pride.  Tragically, he would not humble himself and appeal to Lord God.  The years were 911-870 BC. We have not changed that strategy in 2017.  At times, if I am not careful,  I can have the propensity to turn to my own means to fix what is broken!  Oh, dear Holy Spirit, send out the pride alerts! Give me the Gibbs NCIS pop to the back of my head!   Ever learning!  In process! #IHAVETHREESONS