Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton
Four generations after King David, a man after His own heart was King Asa. Unfortunately, he did not walk in the ways of his great, great, great, great grandfather. Asa was depending on another king to help them versus trusting in God. Matthew Henry writes, “God is displeased when He is distrusted, and when an arm of flesh is relied on more than His power and goodness. It is foolish to lean on a broken reed, when we have the Rock of Ages to rely upon.”
To rely means to depend on with full trust or confidence. In 2 Chronicles 16:7-9 lets us know, “Hannai the seer, one who sees spiritual truth, 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…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.”
To put this in a way to apply to today’s time would be when we choose not to seek after God and follow after His ways and not rely on Him will result in consequences. When you know the right ways as Asa would have known by his grandfathers, but choose not to live by them your life can be filled with chaos and your thoughts consumed by battles in the mind.
After Asa’s death his son came to the throne but the Word teaches that he chose to walk in the ways of his father King David, which was his grandfather 5 generations back. In 2 Chronicles 17 we can read that the Lord was with Jehosaphat because “he walked in the former ways of his father David: he did not seek the Baals; the idols of other nations.” Four things to learn from King Jehosaphat is 1. He chose to have a good example/role model. When we look up to follow after someone we need to make sure their life is in line with the word of God.
The 2nd thing is once we see them living for God we too need to “walk in the commandments.” We are to hide the Word of God in our heart that we might not sin against Him. The 3rd thing is once we make the choice to walk after God blessings can come. Just like Jehosaphat we learn that “the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all of Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat and he had riches and honor in abundance.” (2 Ch 17:5).
The fourth thing we can learn is we have to continually live in a state of repentance; which is turning away from the ways of the world and taking down the idols we have in our life. We have to take pleasure in learning of God and His ways and relying on God.
TRS
originally written 9/19/21
Rays of Hope 