Articles
The Lord Is With You - 2 Chron. 15
The Lord Is With You - 2 Chron. 15
Asa (941-931 BC) did good and right in the sight of the LORD his God: he removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherim, AND command Judah to seek the LORD of their removed the high places and incense altars from all the cities of Judah. (14:1-5)
He recognized that their 'possession' of the land was dependent upon their faithfulness unto the LORD: "The land is still ours because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side” (14:7).
He faced the Ethiopian army that was twice the size of his army and routed them in battle by the help of the LORD. This was preceded by Asa's prayer: “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You” (14:11).
Upon returning, he was given this advice by the prophet Azariah: "the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you" (15:2).
This was then immediately followed by even more reform and turning to God: they cleansed the land of idols, the restored the altar of the LORD, they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD with all their heart and soul (15:8, 12). Asa even removed his grandmother from her position as queen mother because of her idolatry (15:16).
THEN, instead of continuing to rely upon God for protection and safety, they relied upon a treaty with the king of Aram. The prophet was direct: 'you have acted foolishly' (16:7). Rather than repenting, Asa imprisons the messenger of God! In his later years, Asa became 'diseased in his feet' and even in this 'he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians' (16:12).
My observation on this is simply that one's faith in God is not 'static' or automatic. One can at one point of life be extremely zealous towards God, and then later become complacent and nonchalant about his faith; his faith becomes cold and he becomes unfaithful to God. Now go back and see why the prophet, at the height of Asa's faithful victory, warned him of this very thing.
"the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you" (15:2).
We that are Christians have found Him, but some grow cold and forsake Him. Some, like Asa, are strong in the faith in the beginning but forsake the LORD as time goes by. We need to feed our faith by feeding upon God's word. We need to strengthen our faith by prayer and worship. We sometimes need to make corrections by listening to reproof and turning back to God.
Some make shipwreck of their faith (1Tim. 1:19). Some believe for a while, and then fall away (Luke 8:13). Some believe and are baptized, then find themselves in the bond of iniquity again because their hearts are no longer right with God (Acts 8:13, 21-23). Some have become weak in faith and had their faith overthrown by false teaching (2Tim. 2:16-18). Others have been faithful unto death and have received the crown of life (Rev. 2:10).
Are you yet seeking the LORD with all of your heart? Or are you behaving like Asa?
Hugh DeLong
