Chapter 166. 1 Kings 15:9-24; 1 Chron. 14. King Asa.
AT the end of a short reign of three years, Abijah, King of Judah, died, and his son, Asa, was made King in his place. Asa feared God and did that which was right in His sight. He took away the idols that the people had made, with the altars and the groves, and destroyed them.
We can hardly understand, with the beautiful temple Solomon had built at Jerusalem, and with the knowledge they had of God, that the people could stoop so low as to make themselves idols of wood and stone and fall down before them and worship them. But such were their hearts and such are ours, that even we, who know the Lord as our Saviour, have to be told, “Little children keep yourselves from idols.” We consider foolish the praying to such images, but perhaps we allow earthly love, or money, or praise, or anything else, to become false gods, and give them first place in our hearts. God is a jealous God, and will not give His place to another. Surely, He is worthy to fill our hearts, and to Him belongs all honor and praise and worship.
God blessed Asa for his zeal, and gave him rest and peace for a long time. He built many new cities, walls and towers, and the people prospered, because they sought the Lord and their God. This prosperity must have tempted the Ethiopians, or perhaps thinking the people of Judah had lived in peace so long they were not prepared for war. Be that as it may, Zerah, the King of Ethiopia, came, and, with him, one million men and three hundred chariots of war, to undertake to conquer Asa and his people. Asa went out to meet him with an army only five hundred and eighty thousand strong. There might not have been a very great prospect of resisting the invading foe, but Asa knew where to turn for sure help. He cried to the Lord. “Lord,” he said, “it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with money, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee.”
Such an expression of confidence must be answered; the Lord’s ear is ever open to the cry of His own. He made their cause His own, and fought for them, and smote the Ethiopians who fled before Asa, and the people of Judah. Their defeat was so thorough, the Ethiopians did not recover from it, but left much of their spoil behind; their tents, sheep, camels were all carried away to Jerusalem. Thus once more did Jehovah’s people prove what a God was theirs! “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.” “O, give thanks unto the Lord for He is good for His mercy endureth forever!”
How much more, however, was God’s goodness and mercy manifested when He undertook for us against Satan, the great enemy of our souls! A word from Him could put the Ethiopians to flight, but it cost Him His only Son, to destroy him who had power over us, whose slaves we were. The Lord Jesus had to go down into death to deliver us from the power of death. And now we can say, “O death, where is thy sting? . . . Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:55, 57.)
ML 11/19/1916