Good Evening Yamon Ki Yesepar;
II Chronicles 16:7: “At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast not relied on the Lord they God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.”
Asa was a Godly king. The prophet came to Asa in II Chronicles 15:2 and said: “The Lord is with you, while you are with him. If you seek Him, He will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” Asa then led the nation of Judah into a covenant to seek the Lord with all their hearts and with all their souls. In fact anyone who did not seek God were put to death. The Bible tells us in verse 15 that the nation found God and God gave them rest. Asa even removed his mother from her position as queen because she made an idol. Asa cut the idol down and burned it. He brought gold and silver into the temple and dedicated it to the Lord. For 35 years Judah lived in peace and prosperity and there was no war.
Then Baasha, the king of the Northern kingdom of Israel built a city called Ramah which cut off all trade to Judah. Suddenly the economy of Judah was about to collapse, their food and water supply were under threat. After 35 years of trusting God, seeking God with all his heart, he fell into fear. He and Judah had lived 35 years in peace and prosperity and now with the threat of that prosperity ending, he fell into panic. Instead of going to God, who had promised peace and prosperity and in 35 years never failed in that promise, Asa went to the temple, not to seek God, but to strip it of all the silver and gold and bring it to Syria pleading for the help. Syria was not necessarily an ally, but they were not an enemy. They were a potential threat to Judah and history proves this threat was real. Syria was to Judah what China is to the United States. Not an ally, not an enemy, but a definite threat.
Well, the plan worked. Bassha dismantled the city of Ramah and peace and prosperity returned. But the prophet came to Asa in 16:7 and told Asa that because he relied on Syria rather than God , Syria will one day destroy Judah. Asa, in a rage, had the prophet thrown into prison. Four years later Asa came down with a disease in his feet. It is believed that he developed an infection that spread throughout his body and for two years he lived in agony until he finally succumbed to the disease.
I am looking at only one Hebrew word today. It is the word – nishe’aneta – “to rely upon.” Asa relied on Syria not God. This from the root word “Sh’an.” For those in my classes, this is one of those “sha” words. The shin, and ayin representing peace through spiritual insight. The final letter is nun – faith. Asa sought peace by placing his faith in his own insight. For 35 years Asa knew the blessings of God. After 35 years he grew comfortable with the blessings and forgot where the blessings came from and when the threat of losing that blessing, when the economy of Judah was about to collapse he became fearful he fell to his own reasoning or insight and ran to a godless nation for help. He placed his faith in man. He used the gold and silver, that he 35 years earlier had dedicated to God, to bribe this “man” this nation for help.
We must never loose sight of where our blessings come from. Every time we eat a meal we need to thank God, every paycheck we get we need to thank God, every day we go to a job, we need to thank God so we never forget where that meal comes from, or where that job comes from. For we are no different than Asa, we are blessed and if ever there is a threat to losing that blessing, we could easily forget where that blessing came from and run to human circumstance for a solution rather than to God.
The past four weeks I lived in fear of a certain matter. I drifted away from the presence of God and when I did I suddenly became aware of a human solution to the matter causing my fear. I began to praise God for this revelation, for the first time in four weeks, I felt secure. That is when God led me to the story of Asa and I had to repent for I realized my release from fear was looking to man and not God. I declared to God that I will not trust in man’s system for my security but to Him alone. I no longer have that fear, but it is because I now know my rest is in God not in “Syria.”
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