Shalom Dear Brothers and Sisters King Asa Every night I go to bed and listen to the Word of God on CD, many times I fall asleep listening to it. The other night I was listening to 2nd Chronicles again. Listening and reading through the different kings of Israel and Judah can sometimes be confusing. They tend to overlap each other and sometimes they get along and other times they're fighting each other. One thing I have noticed, every time a good king would be raised up whose heart was set on the Lord God it always says he followed in the ways of his father David. King Asa was one of those kings! The Lord God sent Obed the prophet to Asa because there had been no true honest worship of God, no teachers, no law. 2 Chronicles 15. So King Asa listen to the prophet of God destroyed all the pagan altars that the previous kings had caused Israel and Judah to fall into sin with. He hungered and thirst after God with all of his heart soul and mind. He set to restoring the Temple in the proper offerings that were to be done in the morning and in the evening and the Lord God was with him. In Judah all the people returned to God as well it was such a glorious time. As I was listening to it I thought of how wonderful God must have felt at that time watching a king who once again wanted to restore not just the Temple but the ways of the Lord with the people. For those few years how joyful His heart must have been! Watching and receiving the offerings and rejoicing over his people Judah as they studied the law of Moses and sought to do what was right in His eyes! So God gave them peace until the 35th year of King Asa's reign. Then in Chapter 16 we see disaster once again. Because King Asa had such a heart for the Lord and the people were serving God again he had a long reign. However, instead of inquiry of the Lord he took the treasures of silver and gold from the house of the Lord and sent them to the king of Syria to make a peace treaty because the king of Israel was coming to fight. Of course this angered the Lord God and the Lord turned away from King Asa. What is very sad about this is that if King Asa had been like David and just repented of his ways the Lord God would have forgiven him. Instead, Asa was afflicted and his feet were disease and because he was angry with the Lord he did not seek him only physicians. So it was that he died. Now I know God does use physician's to heal us at times. I also know for a matter of fact they are limited and can only do so much, that is why we pray and consult God first! Verse nine is my favorite verse, at least one of them, in the whole Bible! "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him"! Many times when I begin to feel something coming on the first thing I do is call on the Lord and remind him of the Scripture! Sometimes, I need to go and see my physician and yes sometimes I even need to take antibiotics or end up in the hospital. Even when these things happen I do not get angry with God I do not blame Him for I know that in all cases no matter what may happen He always has my best interests at heart! I can count on that. How different it could have been for King Asa as well as the people under him. He became angry with God and was cruel to the people. Let us always remember how much our Abba loves us and wants to show Himself strong on our behalf!
B'Shem Yeshua Hamashiach, Amen In His Love, Theresa
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