| “And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said … help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go” (2 Chronicles 14:11). |
| Yesterday we spoke about doing little things for the Lord, in preparation for bigger things, if the Lord decides to use us in this way. In our verse today, we see King Asa of Judah having to deal with a big problem. We looked at this same verse back in February, and pointed out how Asa had had ten years of peace, and had used that time well. He had built fortifications and increased his army, for he knew that sooner or later, an enemy would attack him. Asa had a large army, but the Ethiopians who came against him had almost twice as many men. Asa knew that despite all his good preparation, only the Lord could give him the victory. |
| The words Asa used — “We rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go” inspired the writing of a hymn. Back about 1895, a woman named Edith Cherry wrote the hymn, and several verses go like this: |
We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
We go not forth alone against the foe;
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go. |
We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,
And needing more each day Thy grace to know:
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go. |
We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise;
When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days. |
| When I was young, back in 1956, five young men went to Ecuador in South America, to take the gospel to the Auca Indians there. At first they were well received, for the aboriginal people there seemed friendly to them. But then some time later, when they went back a second time, all five of them were killed by those people, who evidently did not trust them. One of them was named Jim Elliot, and all of them were still young. Yet their sacrifice has been an inspiration to many other Christians. One quotation of Jim Elliot’s is worth repeating here — “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” |
| On the very day that they suffered martyrdom for Christ, those five young men sang that hymn, written by Edith Cherry. We might ask the question, Why did the Lord deliver King Asa, and allow him to win a great victory, and yet allowed those five young missionaries to be killed? We can only say that God has His different ways with all of us, and His name is glorified sometimes by giving His people great victories, while at other times He is glorified by their submission to His will in giving up their lives for Him. (If you are interested in reading the story of these five young men, try and get a book called, “Through Gates of Splendor,” by Elisabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot’s widow.) |
