Asa's Last Years

 

2 Chronicles 16:1-14

 

July 7, 2023

 

Asa's Last Years

In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come into Asa king of Judah.  Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king's house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.”  And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.  And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease.  Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them, he built Geba and Mizpah.

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.  Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand.  For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”  Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

 

The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.  In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord but sought help from physicians.  And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.  They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.

 

This is an area that all who follow Christ must guard against, it is referred to as getting full of yourself.  It is when you and I forget or do not acknowledge the source of success and blessings.  Asa got his needs met at a great cost, both in wealth and his fellowship with God, and he in some ways broke his trust with his own people.  It did not go well for him in that he began as his great-granddad Solomon and neither finished strong.

If you find yourself on that road that leads you to think all your talents and blessings come from your great skill set, it is time to find a godly man you trust, who will be a Hanani the seer in your life. For I have not met a follower of Christ that did not hope to finish well.  But I know it is easy to get full of self and thank the Lord, he put some very special people to bring about reality, and at 81 years on the planet, I’m learning how to walk with my Lord, and put no faith in Bob.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice