A bad end (2 Chr 15-16; 1 Kin 16; Philemon)

Is it more important how you begin or how you finish? Asa had begun so well, he’d helped to reform the country by returning to the Word of God (2 Chr 14-15). He had relied on the Lord when trouble came, he got rid of the idols and sacrificed to the Lord.

What went wrong? He stopped looking to the Lord and started relying on other nations. It’s so easy to turn to help you can see, rather than the unseen Lord of Heaven and earth. It’s so sad to see the difference, earlier in his life Asa had faced trouble from Ethiopia, and he prayed “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you.” (2 Chr 14:11). But now, he looks to king Ben-hadad, the mighty king of Syria (2 Chr 16).

God gives him an opportunity to repent of turning to man instead of to the LORD. He sends a prophet to remind him of how the LORD had rescued him from the Ethiopians. The prophet warns him of the danger of not trusting the Lord, and tragically Asa responds by getting angry and putting the prophet in prison (2 Chr 16:10). He seeks to silence God’s Word when it doesn’t agree with him.

God even sends a disease to Asa, a gracious wake up call, a loving warning to turn back to him. But Asa still refuses to seek the LORD. How tragic to begin well, to begin by going God’s way, but to end by turning away from God. How we need to pray for sensitive consciences and soft hearts to God’s Word. How we need to daily seek to go God’s way, to pray with the Psalmist that we would delight in God’s Word. To pray “Lord, keep me from drifting from you, keep me close to you to the end of my life.”