This chapter describes some of the acts of Asa, son of Abijah, son of Rehoboam.
“And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him.” (v2-5)
Asa is described using similar language to David – he was a king who loved and obeyed God, and led Judah to keep God’s commandments. This chapter also describes God giving them a victory over a significantly larger foreign army because they were obedient to Him, and called upon His name.
Asa models for us the importance of removing obstacles, barriers, and false gods that stand between us and God. Note that these barriers are placed intentionally, or unintentionally, by people, not by God. God does not create barriers between us, our sin creates barriers between us.
The difficult thing is most of these barriers are not physical and cannot be ‘cut down’ that easily. Barriers can include attitude, addictions, unhealthy habits, lifestyle choices, and various physical things as well.
Unfortunately, we often cannot remove these barriers ourselves, we need God’s help. Asa cried out to God regularly, and we must as well, for Him to help identify and destroy the stumbling blocks in our path to Him. The more stumbling blocks we invite God to help remove, the closer our relationship with Him will become.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
I encourage us to not grow complacent with barriers as the people of Judah and Israel had. Let’s actively seek God’s assistance in removing sin and unrighteousness from our lives, so we may have significantly deeper relationships with Him.
Father God, our Gracious Lord, great and mighty are Your works. You have generously granted us forgiveness through Jesus Christ Your son, and we praise You for loving us so greatly. Father please continue to mold and shape our hearts, that we may become more Christlike every day. Please help us identify and remove stumbling blocks that trip us up from fully obeying You. Please anger us against our own complacency, and strengthen our resolve to wholly pursue You, for we are weak, lazy and easily distracted. We honor, praise and glorify You, and You alone, forever and ever, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training