The Biblical history post-Solomon in Israel makes for grim reading. Because of his disobedience the kingdom that he ruled over has been split in two. His own family line is ruling over Judah, in the south, and another family line is ruling over the rest of the country. As we read through the lines of Kings it’s a real up and down affair. Some were so sinful and evil, others were ok, and some were good. It always does my heart good when I read about a king that followed the Lord. In 2 Chronicles 14 we read of one who did.

Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God 2 Chron 14:2

Asa is the great grandson of Solomon and so came to reign in Judah. Judah was the smaller of the two kingdoms and therefore was often the one under the most threat. Under Asa the people turned to the Lord and they prospered. However, war and attack were never far away and they soon came under threat from a group of people called the Cushites. They were a much larger army than Judah and humanly speaking there was no way they could be victorious. Asa though had learned to dependancy on the Lord and so this is how he responded to the unnerving odds.

Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. LORD, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.” 2 Chron 14:11

Boom, great job Asa. God answers his call and squashes the Cushites. Judah won a great victory and gained many possessions from this war. Of course, God is the one who truly made the difference because humanly speaking the victory would have been impossible, but Asa’s dependance on God does not go unnoticed. After the victory a prophet meets Asa to encourage and remind him of the Lords role in this.

He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 2 Chron 15:2

Asa continues his good work by getting rid of more idols and then calls the people of Judah to covenant before the Lord. For 35 years there was peace in Judah.

However, nothing lasts forever….

In his 36th year Baasha, king of Israel, comes to declare war on Judah. He cuts off Judah and doesn’t allow anyone to enter or leave. Again, Judah would have been the underdog. This wasn’t the first time though. Surely all that he learned previously he would put into practise here? He knows the process…..rely on God, God squashes the army, God gives Asa the victory…..

But this isn’t what Asa does this time.

Whether the years of peace in between bred forgetfulness, entitlement, complacency, or arrogance in Asa we can’t be sure, but instead of relying on God Asa decides to turn to human allies. He contacts the King of Aram for help.

Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me. 2 Chron 16:3

The king of Aram agrees to this and when Baahsa sees the partnership he retreats and returns to his kingdom – victory ensured, everyone’s happy right?

Not quite.

Remember, God is less focused on what happened than how they happened. As humans we look to results, but God looks at our hearts. He gets reminded of his mistake pretty quickly.

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war. ” 2 Chron 16:7-9

There was a chance that when the seer reminded him of the past that Asa would repent and turn back to the Lord but his doesn’t happen. Instead we are told he becomes very angry with the seer, throws him in prison, and starts to brutally oppress some of his people. I’m not sure why he chose the last part but that’s what the book says. The only other thing we hear about Asa in this chapter is a statement that underlines how far he’d moved away from dependance on God.

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians. 2 Chron 16:12

This post is in a similar vain to one I wrote recently about Moses and his obedience to God throughout the wilderness years. My point today is simply this.

Growing in our faith is not uniformly linear, logical, or accumulative.

Faith doesn’t necessarily go from strength to strength, it isn’t 1+1+1+1, every experience doesn’t automatically become ‘money in the bank.’ We have phrases like ‘God doesn’t waste any experiences,’ a statement I believe to be true, but what is equally true is that ‘we’ are well capable of wasting any and every experience we have with God, good or bad.

Whatever level of dependancy we have on God today is not fixed. It is not guaranteed, held, or protected. It can grow or it can reduce depending on how we exercise it. Asa choose to let it reduce, others have done the opposite.

I wonder when the last time was that we conducted an appraisal on where our dependancy was, where it is today, and where we would like it to be tomorrow. If we did this would we be happy with the outcome? If not, would we be prepared to change?

Dependancy is entirely dependant on our desire to depend on God.