"Trusting Aram" April 25 Readings: 1 Kings 15:1-24, 2 Chronicles 13-16

Today's Reading -  1 Kings 15:1-24, 2 Chronicles 13-16  

Background

We begin to work through the kings of Israel and Judah. In Kings, we see both nations' kings while Chronicles only looks at Judah. All of the kings of Israel are condemned because they continued the sin of Jeroboam, idolatry. But the kings of Judah are essentially graded in four different ways.

• The top grade goes to the good kings who obeyed God and also got rid of idols and high places. 
• The second tier was the good kings who obeyed God but were not willing to cleanse the nation of idols or shut down the high places. 
• The third tier was bad kings who disobeyed God. 
• The lowest level was those bad kings who not only disobeyed God but also engaged in the heinous practice of child sacrifice. 

Devotional - Trusting Aram

Asa started out so well as the king of Judah. His fathers had strayed from the path set by King David and had led Judah towards compromise and idolatry. Asa came along and led the nation in a spiritual revival, turning people back to God and cleaning up the nation's idolatrous practices. He was so committed to God that he deposed his own grandmother Maacah as Queen Mother because of her devotion to false gods.

Many of the kings of Judah started out well and then fell into sin later in their lives. That happened to Asa. His long reign started with such promise and blessing as he devoted his heart to God. But somewhere along the way, something changed. The man of God stopped putting his faith in the Almighty and started trusting in worldly things for help.

In 2 Chronicles 14, Judah is invaded by the Cushites and Asa called out to God for help.

Lord, there is no one besides you to help the mighty and those without strength. Help us, Lord our God, for we depend on you, and in your name we have come against this large army. Lord, you are our God. Do not let a mere mortal hinder you. 2 Chronicles 14:11

God responded with power and routed the invading army. He showed himself able and willing to save the king who looked to him and depended on him. Azariah came to Asa in 2 Chronicles 15:2 and gave him a prophecy.

Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, hear me. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.

If Asa would continue to follow God's will he would see the continued power and provision of God in his kingdom. But Azariah warned him against abandoning God to walk in his own ways. Unfortunately, that is precisely what Asa did. 

At some point, he stopped trusting in God and started trusting in the power of the nations around him. It was 36 years into Asa's reign and evil king Baasha of Israel came against him. In his fear, he did not turn to God for help, but he turned to the Aramean king Ben-Hadad. 

“There’s a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you silver and gold. Go break your treaty with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will withdraw from me.” 2 Chronicles 16:3

When he turned away from God, God removed his hand of blessing. Hanani the prophet reminded him of God's faithfulness and of the failure of his alliance with Aram. Asa, the great king, had become a fool because he trusted in man and man's help instead of in God.

I wish I was not so much like Asa!

Lord, you have always been faithful to me. Help me to always turn to you and to seek you when I am in distress. When life is hard and when things are bad, I turn to you. 

Think and Pray 

Do you trust in your own power to solve problems? Do you rely on the help of others, on the things of this world? Or do you seek God and his power?