Who Do We Rely On?

2Ch 16:7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

Our text today occurs after the 12 Tribes of Israel were divided and now Asa was the king of 2 southern tribes of Judah and Baasha was the king of the 10 northern tribes of Israel. Asa had just experienced what he thought was a great victory. King Baasha, had built Ramah to prevent anyone from coming to Asa and Judah. Asa goes out to confront Baasha and many of Israel die in the conflict, and Baasha stops building Ramah. Afterwards, Asa comes and takes the materials that were being used for the building of Ramah and used them to build Geba and Mizpah for Judah.

Everything sounds great, except in my description I left out one important fact: Asa took all the silver and gold from the house of the LORD and hired the King of Syria to help them in the battle. Now, the seer Hanani came to Asa with a troubling message: the king of Syria has escaped because you did not seek the LORD thy God's help.

How many victories have we celebrated in our lives, that really weren't victories at all because we excluded the LORD from the battle? How many church's are caught up in the race to build a larger church audience, and have used the help of the world and not the LORD to do so? How many families have sought the advice of doctor's and counsellors in how to fix their marriage and their families and excluded God's blueprint for our marriages and families?

May we always seek the LORDS help and guidance in all that we do. The world may have a recipe for the result that we seek, but it will be at the expense of God's approval.

No comments: