May 14 - 2 Chronicles 13-17: A Better Life Now

"I want My people to know this: if even in small ways you live to 'fix your life,' to arrange for your own pleasure in ways that violate holiness, your love for a better life now will eventually corrupt your love for Me." 66 LL

After reading about Asa in 1 Kings 15, I wrote his name in my list of Judah's kings (trying to make sense of the chronology) and put a star next to it: finally, a good king!

He was well-intentioned - his heart was in the right place, in tune with God. (1 Kings 15:14)

And for thirty-five years, this is how Asa ruled Judah. He was faithful to his God.

But in the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Baasha king of Israel attacked. (16:1)

Asa took silver and gold...and sent it to Ben-Hadad, king of Aram...with this message: "Let's make a treaty like the one between our fathers." (16:2)

Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said, "Because you went for help to the king of Aram and didn't ask God for help, you've lost a victory...You were foolish to go for human help when you could have had God's help. Now you're in trouble" (16:7, 9)

At that, Asa lost his temper. Angry, he put Hanani in the stocks. At the same time, Asa started abusing some of the people. (16:10)

Asa came down with a severe case of foot infection. He didn't ask God for help, but went instead to the doctors. (16:12)

What in the world happened to Asa?? For all those years, he had followed God, in good times and bad.

But Asa, like every other king except David, didn't finish well. He didn't remain faithful to his God, the God who had rescued him many times and had blessed him immeasurably.

I recognize that unfaithfulness is a real possibility for me, regardless of how devotedly I'm following God today or this year. Nothing is guaranteed. And I know I'm not getting better as I'm getting older; in fact, Ephesians 4:22 reminds me that my flesh is being corrupted.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

Unless I continue to seek the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength every day, I'm in danger of not finishing well either. It's so easy to get distracted by the cares of this world.

I've seen it more than I ever imagined - people who were passionate about God drift away from their walk with the Lord and from fellowship with other believers. Their love for a better life here overshadowed their love for the Lord; their actions merely revealed where their hearts really were.

If I don't want to end up in the same place, I must be alert to the presence of my enemy and his schemes against me. He is out to steal, kill, and destroy me and my faith in God. (John 10:10) And I'm beginning to realize that my Achilles heel may be my desire for a better life now, to make my life work.

"What I am saying to you in this letter is hard to hear, even harder to live, but it is vital. I can restate it this way: don't look for experts to coach you in how to make life work before you follow elders who will lead you into My Presence." 66 LL

As I struggle to maintain an eternal perspective rather than a short-term focus, I'm grateful for those faithful men and women whom God has already placed in my life to guide me and pray for me. Lord, give me the desire and discipline to continue to place myself under their godly instruction. Father, may I finish well, for Your sake.