Asa had been king now for thirty-six years, and things had been going very well for him and for his people. They had made great promises to follow only the true God.
Aren’t promises enough?
Not really. You may have seen a branch of a fruit tree or a grape vine all in blossom-a hope, or promise, that in a number of months it will be loaded with fruit. But instead, it withers up and grows no fruit! Why not? Somehow, it was broken right where the branch joined the trunk, and no more sap came through. No sap - no fruit. Promises are not enough. The branch cannot grow fruit unless it stays connected to the vine or the tree trunk.
Now here comes another enemy king against King Asa, and this new enemy comes in a different way. He plans to build a city to blockade supplies from going in or coming out of King Asa’s city. That might be a good plan, but King Asa heard about it and wanted to make sure it did not work. Who could he get to help him?
Benhadad was a great, strong king. So King Asa figured out that there was enough gold and silver in the house of the Lord and his own house to bribe Benhadad to come and help him. Benhadad had already promised to join with the enemy king, but Asa hoped that when he saw all the gold and silver he was going to offer him, Benhadad would break his promise to the enemy king. Perhaps bribery would win him over.
Yes, it worked!
Benhadad sent the captains of his army, and they destroyed the enemy king’s cities. This made the enemy decide it was safer to go home. So the enemy’s plan against King Asa did not work.
There was a prophet who knew that this was the wrong way to avoid trouble. He came to King Asa and reminded him of the great battle some years earlier when the Lord had made them joyfully victorious, but this time he had not relied on the Lord. And the prophet added, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him” (2 Chronicles 16:99For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. (2 Chronicles 16:9)).
The verse says “the whole earth,” and that sounds like you and I are included too. “Perfect” means resting on Jesus alone, and not on anything I can do or have done. Je-sus has died for me, and He is all I need. I don’t have to pay Him money to take care of me, because He loves me!
What the prophet said made King Asa so angry that he put the prophet in prison and mistreated some of the people. After that, King Asa had his own troubles too. His feet became diseased.
Maybe you have troubles, and the first thing to do is to pray to the Lord about them. King Asa skipped that part and went to the doctor first about the disease in his feet, but nothing seemed to help him. The infection only became worse, and King Asa died.
King Asa left us with three lessons to learn: 1. He had a glorious victory against huge enemy forces, because he knew only the Lord could save him.
2. He broke his promise, because he did things his own way and did not rely on the Lord.
3. He did not get relief from trouble, because he went to the wrong helper first and left the Lord out, and he had greater trouble afterward.
God tells us this story because He loves us, and He wants us to rely on Him rather than trying to solve our problems by ourselves. “In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee: for Thou wilt answer me” (Psalm 86:77In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. (Psalm 86:7)).
Think About God’s Word!
1. How did King Asa try to solve his problem with the blockade of his city?
Project: There are many verses in God’s Word that show we should have strong confidence in our God. How many can you list? Start your search in Psalm 20.