Good morning my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Do you understand the power of ENCOURAGEMENT? When I was in College, a few years ago, I played on a sports team and we were very encouraged by the cheerleaders, in fact I married one of them, and she is still very encouraging to this day! Who are those people in your life who encourage you and who would say YOU are an encourager to them? Do you know this powerful verse in the Bible: “Let not any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Eph. 4:29) Can that be said of you my friends?
Let’s rejoin King Asa and his victorious army as they are returning home after experiencing the power of God in battle. Yesterday we watched as the prophet of God named Azariah stopped the victory march to give King Asa some important and very encouraging news from God. That encouraging message motivated Asa to take action, very important action.
The record says: “When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin. He repaired the altar that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple.” (2 Chronicles 15:8) Now we might say, ‘wait a minute, that sounds like religious work not the work of the King of the land’!? Oh but that’s the point here my friends, and an important lesson about leadership, and not only governance leadership but ALL leadership. From God’s perspective leadership is first and foremost about creating and sustaining a culture of integrity, morality, and ethics...a God honoring culture. And that is true in business, health care, education, politics, and the home! God had made it clear the King’s FIRST responsibility was to guide the nation of Israel in living as a people honoring to God!
From that priority, if achieved well, then everything else in the society would flow well. If that first priority was dysfunctional, then every other aspect of society would eventually be dysfunctional. History has proven that to be very true! So king Asa was taking the action to accomplish his first priority as King of God’s people!
Now watch this friends for the next verse tells us how the people responded to this type of God honoring leadership from their King: “Then Asa assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD was with him, Asa.” (2 Chronicles 15:9) God honoring leadership which results in a God honoring culture is very attractive. People will leave their job and seek employment with a God honoring boss. In this case many people were actually relocating, selling their homes and moving from the ‘northern kingdom’ Israel, and moving to the ‘southern kingdom’ Judah, because they could see the difference in a God honoring King and society! Can you imagine that? Well, yes we can because it happens all the time around our world.
I notice something very interesting as 2 Chronicles outlines some of the details of HOW King Asa accomplished this change of society. King Asa had a problem, a family problem. His grandmother Maakah was the daughter of King David’s rebellious son Abishalom (Absalom). (1 Kings 15:10) She was an evil woman, an idol worshipper and she mocked the God of Israel. But evidently years before Asa became king, she had been given some type of royal position and Maakah was referred to as ‘queen mother’.
But now, as part of King Asa’s cleansing of the land, both the records of 1 Kings 15:13 & 2 Chronicles 15:16 tell us: “King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as ‘queen mother’ because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Ashtoreth. Asa cut it down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley…Asa’s heart was fully committed to the LORD.” Now that takes courage, would you agree my friends? Boldly standing up against family members who reject God, who mock God, especially if they are influential members of the family, requires special courage, and that’s exactly what Asa did!
So significant was this society cleansing work of Asa, that one powerful verse summarizes God’s response: “There was no more war until the 35th year of Asa’s reign!” (2 Chronicles 15:19) Now my friends, if you know much about the long term history of the middle east and especially the antagonism toward Israel, a 35 year stretch of peaceful living is quite remarkable! Peace, at least for the nation of Israel, is a work of God! Sadly, while 35 years is a nice long stretch, it didn’t last longer and tomorrow we’ll take a close look at WHY! For today, let’s welcome the peace but let’s understand the price which King Asa had to pay in leading his people to be a God honoring people, including dealing with rebellion against God in his own family! When you and I look closely at our cities, even our families, what do we see?
Now here’s a worship song to help us consider these important truths about seeing our world and ourselves as God sees us; and then seeing God as He truly is in all His majesty…
Today’s Scripture: 2 Chronicles 15:8-19.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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