2Chronicles 16:1-14, “7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand… 9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”
In the last message we saw how God promised to give king Asa and the people of Judah peace and victory over their enemies if they remained with and in God. 2Chronicles 15:12, reads “Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; …15 – And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around“. This is God’s promise to those who remain (abide) in Him.
Chapter 16 takes a strange turn, after 35 years of peace from and reliance on God, a threat was made to his kingdom by Baasha king of Israel, vs. “2 Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus,…”. Instead of turning to the Lord as he did in the days they were attacked by the Ethiopians who had double the size of the army he had, and having promised to turn to seek God when a prophesy was made, he took that which had been consecrated to the Lord and used it to get help from another king. Compared to what he faced with the Ethiopian army, this was way small. A man who learnt to trust God in the days of trouble, chose to go a different way. God is displeased when He is distrusted, and when an arm of flesh is relied on more than His power and goodness. God is displeased when men choose the way of the world to try and accomplish His started work. And more and more we learn of this even with churches that started small, trusting God by seeking Him but as years have gone by and have become successful, they become less and less dependent on God choosing other means to keep the ministry going, keep the people going. Same with many in business, family etc.
It is a foolish thing to lean on a broken reed, when we have the Rock of ages to rely upon. And the message we would receive as that which was delivered to Asa vs. “7 … “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand”. This is like a child who has always relied on his father to help him cross the busy highway. Sooner or later, he feels like and insists he can do it by himself and uses other means and the father lets him do it. That is pure tragedy. And any man, nation, church that chooses to take its focus off of God and put it on the Syria of this world has exposed themselves to every danger. But see how deceitful our hearts are, we trust in God when we have nothing else to trust to, when needs drives us to Him; but when we have other things to stay on, we are apt to depend too much on them.
In the first message we saw how they built buildings, tower, gates, armies as a means by which God could use none, all or a portion of these for His glory. Here what would have been a means was turned into the object of deliverance. They needed to be reminded of this vs. “9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”
The help of every creature must be used with an eye to the Creator, and in dependence on Him, who makes every creature that to us which it is, without whom the most skillful and faithful tools and people fail. It is not the size of your skills, back up or faith that is important, it is the object of your faith that really counts. To continue, Blessings Ev
Related articles
- Confidence In God, Evans Olang (magnifyhisword.wordpress.com)
- Abiding In God, Evans Olang (magnifyhisword.wordpress.com)
He Has Magnified His Word 
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