Hello everyone, welcome to the Bible Journey Daily Podcast. It is great to have you with me here again as we continue our study series through this book we call Two Chronicles, a book that doesn't just record history for us, but also speaks directly into the spiritual rhythm of our lives today, or at least it can if we let it. Now before we begin today's study, I want to pause and say a sincere thank you to all of you who support this ministry through Patreon. Your generosity is the thing that really makes this work possible. Truly, without your support, I would not be able to dedicate my time to record and to make these episodes freely available all around the world. Be assured, you are the reason that this teaching reaches listeners around the world. And for that I am deeply grateful. Today's episode I've given the title Don't Rest on Your Laurels. And I think that that captures a truth that we can be inclined to forget. We all, personally, I'm sure know believers who started out well and ended poorly. Men and women who were once zealous, committed to the Lord, who influenced other people, who walked faithfully, but who later in life drifted, weakened, or simply stopped trusting the Lord as they once did. Maybe you're drifting into a season like that yourself. Well, today hopefully can help you turn around and head back. Turn around and head in the direction that God really wants you to take in your life, that of being closer still to him. Now apparently the Lord thinks we need reminded of this, because he repeatedly records stories of people for us who begin well and finish badly. The Bible is full of them. Saul, Samson, Solomon, Josiah, Amaziah, to name but a few. And now in Chronicles 2.16, we meet another one of those people, King Asa. Asa, as you'll know if you've been following these last couple of days, definitely began well. He trusted the Lord, he removed idols, he restored the worship life of the nation of Judah. He led the nation back into its covenant renewal. That occurred yesterday in chapter 15. But later in his life something changes. He stops trusting the Lord and he relies instead on human strategy, instead of the divine strength and encouragement God could give him. He hardened his heart, it says against God's word, and he even refused to seek the Lord when he became ill. And that is what today's chapter 16 is about. It's a story which stands as a warning and an invitation to every one of us as believers today. It is also a reminder that good beginnings, although wonderful, although a wonderful thing, do not guarantee a good ending. Faithfulness yesterday does not ever replace our faithfulness today, and you cannot rest on your laurels. So I hope you'll stay with me and turn with me and we'll look at 2 Chronicles chapter 16. And let's explore what happens when a man who once trusted God chooses instead to effectively trust himself and what that means for us, as we, I hope, are trusting that we indeed might finish well. Welcome to today's episode of the Bible Journey Daily Podcast. Now, in the first part of this chapter, we are shown what I'm calling aces reliance, but this time it's not reliance on the Lord, as it was in the earlier years of the chapters we've looked at these last couple of days. Instead, it's a reliance on human strategy. And the writer, the chronicler, as I call him, wants us to see that contrast clearly. So the crisis we see begins in verse 1. In the 36th year of Asa's reign, Basha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa, king of Judah. So this is late in Asa's reign, 36 years in. And the king of Israel, Basha, he attempts to choke Judah's movement by fortifying Ramah, a strategic town only six miles north of Jerusalem. And his goal is simple. He wants to stop his own people from doing what we saw happening last time, from continually defecting to Israel, and he wants to cut off Judah's northern access point. Now there's a well-known difficulty around the dates in this passage between the dates in this passage and in One King's accounts, but we can through that still place the events around 895 BC. But the important thing to know is the exact date and day is not really the chronicler's concern here. His concern is to illustrate Asa's heart. So the crisis is revealed to us in verse 1, but the response that Asa makes begins in verse 2. It tells us Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasury of the Lord's temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben Hadid, king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. So Asa feels threatened, and what does he do? Well, some suggest he panics. Instead of turning to the Lord, as he did, and we saw in chapters 14 and 15, even when facing a million man army, instead now we see him turn to Ben Hadid of all things, a pagan king of Aram in modern what we would today call Syria. And he effectively bribes him with temple treasure. And he says, buy a treaty. So he tries to buy a treaty and purchase protection. Verse 3 continues, let there be a treaty between me and you, he said. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Break your treaty with Basha, king of Israel, so he will withdraw from me. So this really, if you think about it, is quite astonishing. The guy who once prayed, Lord, we rest on you, we trust in you, back in chapter 14. Now he says, Ben Hadad, we trust, we want to trust you and let and ask you to help us by making a treaty with us against our own brothers in the nation of Israel. So he's relying on human strength here instead of divine help. He trusts political strategy instead of God's power, and he repeats the mistake of Solomon, Rehuabam, and the countless kings before him. The immediate result is then seen in verses four and five. Ben Hadad, it says, agreed with King Isa and sent the commanders of his foremy, of his forces against the towns of Israel. When Basha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. So the pagan king accepts Asa's bribe and he effectively attacks Israel in the northern cities. This forces Basha, King of Israel, to abandon Ramah in the south and rush north to defend that territory. So Asa's plan works, at least on the surface. The threat appears to disappear, the blockades ends, and the pressure lifts for a season. Verse 6 Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and the timber Basha had been using. With them he built up Giba and Mizpah. So Asa now dismantles Basha's fortifications on their northern frontier and uses the material to strengthen his own border defenses. Now from a political standpoint, this probably looks good. Certainly from a military standpoint, Asa's looking successful here, but from a human standpoint we need to recognise that Asa may look clever in human terms, but spiritually he's failed. And the chronicler wants us to see the contrast. Earlier, Asa trusted the Lord and defeated even a million-man army that came against them, but Asa now trusts a pagan king to solve what is effectively a border dispute. This is Asa showing his new reliance, reliance on human help instead of divine strength. But now we see a prophet come, and a prophet rebukes Asa, and we will witness Asa's response as well. Verse 7. At that time Hanaina, 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. So Hanaina is a prophet, a seer he's described of, someone sent by God to confront Asa's misplaced trust, and he says plainly to him, You relied on the king of Aram, you did not rely on the Lord. And because of that, Asa loses his opportunity. He could have actually defeated Aram and he could have secured a lasting peace, and he could have experienced God's amazing deliverance again, but instead he trusted a man instead of God. Verse 8 continues, were not the Kushites and the Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen, yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered you into their hands. So Henea here reminds Asa of his own pass. The Kushite army that was overwhelming. The Libyans were powerful, their chariots were terrifying, their numbers were staggering, frankly, a million strong army, but Esa on that occasion relied on the Lord, and God delivered him. So the prophet question is piercing. Esa says, if God delivered you then, why won't you trust him now? This is the heart of this chapter, another reminder of the principle that God seeks those who seek him. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. This is one of the most beautiful and encouraging verses in our Old Testament. God is not being portrayed as passive here. He does not remain distance. God is not indifferent to our struggles. His eyes range throughout the earth, it says, searching, scanning, looking for people whose hearts are fully committed to him. And when he finds them, he comes alongside them and he strengthens them. And the word for committed, for the people who are committed to him, means that they are whole and complete, blameless in their attitude, fully devoted to God. God is always looking for those sort of people. He's looking for people he can support. He wants to find people he can support, people he can empower and strengthen. But Asa here, we've just witnessed has done the opposite. And then verse 9 concludes the word of Anah by saying, You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war. Asa's misplaced reliance brings about lasting consequences. He trusted man instead of God, he relied on strategy instead of prayer, and he leaned on politics instead of faith, and the result is war, conflict, pressure, continual unrest for the rest of his reign. Hanah's message is clear. No problem can arise among God's people that he is not unaware of, and no problem exists from which he cannot deliver them if they simply commit themselves fully to him. Asa once knew that, but now he seems he's forgotten that. Now the chronicler next moves from Asa's misplaced reliance to another tragic response of his. What we see is a king who once trusted the Lord wholeheartedly, but who now will refuse correction. He's going to resist the rebuke and in fact react in anger rather than repentance. So first we see him reject the word of the Lord that came through this prophet. Verse 10. Asa was angry with the seer because of this. He was so enraged he put him in prison. At the same time, Asa brutally oppressed some of the people. This is shocking. Hanea had just delivered a message from God, remember, a message meant to correct him, restore him, and rescue Asa and the people from further trouble. But instead of humbling himself and receiving it, Asa becomes enraged. In fact, he imprisons the prophet, and it says he oppresses his own people. He lashes out at the very ones God sent to help him. This is the first actual recorded persecution of a prophet in Judah, and sadly it will not be the last. The chronicler wants us to see the contrast here. Earlier we saw Asa listening to God's first prophet that came to him, Azariah, and he renewed the nation by him being but listening and obeying. But now Asa rejects God's next prophet, Hanea, and hardens his heart. This is of course the tragedy of where spiritual pride will lead us. As one commentator I read on this passage noted, some men pass the greater test but fail the smaller ones. And of course Asa trusted God when facing a million man army, but he would not cross God when facing something much smaller, a border dispute. He passed the sterner test, but failed the trivial one. Verse 11. The events of Asa's reign from beginning to end are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. Now this not only refers to the Bible books we know as the Book of Kings, but to other historical records that were known to the chroniclers audience reading this. It signals a transition. Asa's reign has been summarized and the final years are now in view. The big picture is being overviewed here. Now at the end, finally, we'll witness Asa becoming sick and what does he do? Well, sadly he still doesn't seek the Lord. Verse twelve. In the thirteenth ninth year of his reign, so this is three years now this has been going on, 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 physicians. This is one of the saddest verses in this chapter. Asa is becoming severely ill, beginning in his feet. Now the condition, when described with the original Hebrew words, I'm told it suggests something that is intense, it's severe, and it has a progression. Some Bible language experts say it's an upward progression. Commentators have, of course, proposed things like gout was a popular one in Victorian times, but now most suggest that because of the idea of this being a spreading infection and it moving upward and spreading throughout the body, it's probably may well be something that we today call sepsis. But of course, the medical condition itself is not really the chronicler's concern, but the spiritual diagnosis is, and it's capped again with that statement, he did not seek help from the Lord. Now, of course, it's not saying it's wrong to consult doctors, but it is wrong to trust physicians instead of the Lord. So ACE's failure here is not really being positioned as a medical thing. Again, it's a spiritual thing. He's relied on a foreign king instead of the Lord, and now he's relying on the physicians of his day, who remember are not really like doctors of our day, instead of the Lord. The pattern is clear. Asa's heart has shifted from reliance to self-reliance, from trust to whatever technique he's been offered, from faith to trusting in human strategy. And the chronicler wants us to feel the weight of that shift. And then finally the close of the chapter records Asa's death for us. Then in the forty-first year of his reign, Asa died and rested with his ancestors. So he dies two years after the onset of this disease. Two years may I we may assume of intense suffering. And then the final verse says they buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and then they made a huge fire in his honour. So what it's looking what it's talking about here is something we would call a state funeral. Now Bible experts again say that the fire refers to here is not one of cremation, but it is the burning of spices, a sign of honour, respect, and national mourning. But despite his sad end, Asa is still one of Judah's most successful kings. He was faithful for many years, of course. He led the nation back into renewal, he restored worship, he removed idols and he strengthened the temple. But the point being made here in this chapter today is that he did not finish well. So the lesson is that a good beginning for any of us does not guarantee a good ending. The chronicler wants us to see that potential tragedy clearly. Early in his life, Asa trusted the Lord, later in his life Asa trusted human alliances. Early in his life we saw Asa pray first before he did anything. Later in his life, he not only delays, but he refuses to pray at all, even when he's suffering from personal illness. Early in his life, Asa listened to God's prophets, later in his life, Asa imprisoned a prophet that God had sent. Earlier in his life, Asa relied on the Lord. Later in his life, Asa relied on counsellors and physicians. Now, of course, it's not wrong to use doctors, but it is wrong to trust doctors instead of the Lord. As one doctor once told me upon patching me up following an accident, God will heal you and I'll get paid for it. And I think that's really the right perspective. Ace's problem was not with the medicine, it was his misplaced trust in people. His heart was, of course, initially royal, but the chronicler says and wants to point out is look, see, his obedience is lapsed. He's trusted in things like this foreign alliance, he's trusted in the counsel of those around him, and he's trusted in his own human strength, and the result was defeat, disease, and death. So the message is don't rest on your laurels. Now someone once said that when you look at Asa's life across these chapters, you feel like you've met two entirely different men. Early Asa stands stall, stands tall in the strength of God, knowing that God has an alliance with him and his people and is by his side. But later, Asa sort of shrieks, shrinks into the weakness of self-reliance. It's a complete about face. A spiritual reversal that should be a sober warning to every believer. The lesson for us is that when formidable enemies attack God's people, trust in the Lord because that assures victory. But when God's people, or we as individuals, turn to human force, human power, human strategy, or even human intrigue and plotting and planning, we ignore the special calling available to those who belong to Him. That the fact that help is available, the Holy Spirit is available, and that by turning otherwise we bring inescapable ruin upon ourselves and maybe others. That is the lesson here. Esa was generally for most of his time an upright king. He loved the Lord, and we saw him early in his life lead Judah into renewal. He strengthened the people and the worship life, but his reign was marred by two failures. Firstly, his reliance on the ungodly king of Syria, and then his refusal to trust the Lord even in his illness at the end. Spiritual victories early in life will not guarantee you spiritual victories later in life. Let me repeat that a good start does not guarantee a good end. Please don't forget that. Now, if you're listening to this podcast, we will see that you've met someone who cared deeply about the Word of God and early on desired to walk with Him. And this is good, this is commendable, but He didn't finish well. Past experience is not a guarantee of future faithfulness. Past faithfulness is no guarantee of present faithfulness. Spiritual victories early in your life are worth recalling, but they do not guarantee spiritual victories later in your life. You cannot depend on yesterday's trust to carry you through today's trials. Yesterday's obedience cannot be a substitute for today's reliance on obedience. Yesterday's devotion cannot replace the need for you to be dependent on God today. Past victories are there, and we can be thankful, but they're there now, today, to remind you of God's faithfulness, but they cannot replace your present need to trust in Him right now. You must trust the Lord in every situation, in the present and in the future, and you do that by remaining faithful to him. Asa did not do that clearly. But Scripture also gives us another New Testament example, Peter of all people. Peter who heard the profound pronouncements directly from the Lord himself, who saw the miraculous works of the Lord, who witnessed things like the transfiguration of the Lord, and confessed, You are Christ the Son of the living God, yet at the end of the Lord's earthly ministry, Peter of all people denied him. But fortunately, we know Peter was restored. But the lesson remains: do not stop trusting the Lord. And if you have stopped trusting him, if you have stopped doing that today, then my call to you is to return to him. Return to placing your trust in him. This is the lesson of Asa in this book of Chronicles. It is also the lesson of Peter in the New Testament, and it is a lesson for you and I today. Thanks for being with me. And once again, a heartfelt thank you for those who listen and who have reached out to encourage me in this work in any way. I am deeply grateful. Now in our next episode, we turn to chapter 17 of Two Chronicles, where we'll meet Asa's son, Jehoshaphat. Jehosaphat was a king who shows us, I think, in many ways, how to live a balanced life. It's a refreshing chapter after what we've just witnessed, and it's full of wisdom, plans for stability and spiritual maturity. So I hope you'll join me for that, and that we'll all together learn from that. And until then, may the Lord God continue to strengthen you and for you to still trust in Him today. That is what will keep you faithful for tomorrow. See you in the next episode. Bye bye for now.