Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 14-17
Meditation Verse: 16:9
Thought
This famous promise comes in the context of Asa using treasures to buy the help of a foreign king to distract Israel. Asa did so well early on and up to this point. Surely he didn't turn against the Lord all at once. What happened to him that he stopped trusting in the Lord and even attacked those who rebuked him? God had so blessed him, why would he turn away from him? The men God seeks to strengthen are those whose hearts are fully committed to Him, who trust in Him for victory and deliverance, not in the ways of men. That was a rebuke to Asa, because his heart turned away from the Lord.
Application
"The Lord is with those who are with Him." The Lord helps those who turn to Him and remain with Him. He isn't with me when I go off after my own desires, but He is with me when I trust Him and seek to know Him and do His will. That's why Asa enjoyed great success for most of his days. But when I think I face a challenge and act like God can't help, then I have turned away from the Lord. Then I'm not trusting in Him; my heart is no longer fully committed to Him. How little I experience of God's power because I do not believe He is truly able to deliver me! Asa didn't know that God would deliver him from the Cushites, but he evidently didn't think to ask anyone else but God for help, and he received it. That emboldened him to trust the Lord more, though they still had to fight the battle. That's where doubts come in. Was it the Lord or their own skill that gave them success? What would it look like if I fully trusted the Lord? I would so like to live that way.