Thought from today’s Bible reading from 1 Kings 15:1-24; 2 Chronicles 13-16.
After Asa became king of Judah, he faced a formidable foe: Zerah the Ethiopian with his million man army.
“Now Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, bearing shields and wielding bows; all of them were valiant warriors. Now Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and he came to Mareshah. So Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, ‘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.’ So the Lord routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled” (2 Chronicles 14:8-12).
Asa’s army was not insignificant, but it was greatly outnumbered against the Ethiopians. He placed his trust in the Lord and the Lord delivered him.
Unfortunately, Asa later forgot this lesson. When Baasha king of Israel came to fight against Judah, Asa turned to Ben-hadad king of Aram for help rather than trusting in the Lord. Hanani the seer delivered God’s rebuke of Asa for this lack of faith.
“Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars” (2 Chronicles 16:7-9).
After demonstrating his faith in God against the Ethiopians and witnessing God’s deliverance, there was no excuse for Asa not relying in the Lord on this occasion. Yet he forgot the Lord and suffered the consequences for it.
Once we come to believe and trust in the Lord, we must never abandon that faith. Instead, we must “live by faith” (Romans 1:17), being “faithful until death,” so we may receive “the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). We must have the determination spoken of by the Hebrew writer: “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:39).
Tomorrow’s reading: 1 Kings 15:25-16:34; 2 Chronicles 17
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
