STRIKING OUT

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.

Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. “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.”

Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim and all the store cities of Naphtali. When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.

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.”

Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

The events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 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. Then in the forty-first year of his reign, Asa died and rested with his ancestors. They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and they made a huge fire in his honor.

2 Chronicles 16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Anyone who knows me knows I am a big sports fan, particularly a sports fan of all Pittsburgh teams and Manchester United’s soccer team. This time of year, baseball is king of the sports with hockey, basketball, and football seasons off for a few months and it just so happens that my Pittsburgh Pirates are in first place with the top record in all of baseball. They’ve been successful because they have played the game better than anyone else over the course of the season’s first half. The ultimate success of the playoffs and a possible World Series championship are in their sights but they still have to continue playing well across the second half of the season. You see, this team has some past history of looking good at this juncture and then fading and failing late.

The fact of the matter is that this team played very well last year and looked like a team that would challenge for the playoffs at the midway point. But it all went downhill after that. The Pirates would only win 13 games between August 8th and early October and those 26 losses in that period would drop the Pirates into their 20th straight losing season. The late season collapse would go down as the worst in baseball history.

So how could that happen? How could a group of people who were so successful for half a season fall so far at the end?

It’s easy really. They stopped playing the game right and instead of hitting a home run of success they struck out in failure.

As we look at Chapter 16 of 2 Chronicles, we find a biblical version of the 2012 Pirates in the people of Judah led by King Asa.

You’ll recall how Asa and Judah had everything going their way. They had remained faithful to God, seeking Him and finding Him in all circumstances while winning every battle they faced. The Lord first granted them victory over their enemies before granting them peace and rest fulfilling God’s promise that He would be with them if they remained with Him.

Surely, Asa and Judah were blessed and had everything going their way. All they had to do was finish strong. Unfortunately, like the Pirates, they struck out. Literally.

I say literally because as we see the account of their fall, and especially Asa’s fall, we find that it came as a result of three epic failures that sealed doom by consequence vice victory through blessing. Look at the passage again:

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.

Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. “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.”

Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim and all the store cities of Naphtali. When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.

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.”

Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

The events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 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. Then in the forty-first year of his reign, Asa died and rested with his ancestors. They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and they made a huge fire in his honor.

Asa and the people of Judah had been at rest and peace for quite some time but as we see, that didn’t last forever. Opposition came in the form of Baasha king of Israel who rose up against Judah, fortifying Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering Asa’s territory.

Before Asa would inquire of God as to what to do but in this instance, he chose to not do so. Instead, he took the treasures from the Lord’s temple and his palace, using the riches to pay Ben-Hadad king of Aram in exchange for him breaking his treaty with Baasha and instead support Asa and the people of Judah. We read where Ben-Hadad agreed to the deal with Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim and all the store cities of Naphtali. This resulted in Baasha stopping his efforts and abandoning his work. Asa took the stone and timber Baasha left behind and used them to build up Geba and Mizpah.

It looked like it worked out fine, right? Asa and his people came out on top. What was wrong with that?

Enter Hanini the seer who had the following message for Asa from God:

“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.”

In the past, Asa had always turned to the Lord when in need and was delivered into victory, even when the odds were stacked against him such as when the Cushites and Libyans tried to attack. Why he would choose to not do the same in the case of the conflict with Baasha is a mystery but all I know is that it was a big mistake. No one should want to be on God’s bad side and that’s where Asa found himself after deciding it was better to place his trust in a pagan Aramean king instead of God, using the riches of the Lord’s temple to do so.

STRIKE ONE!

So would Asa realize the wrongs of his ways and repent before God seeking His forgiveness, mercy, and grace?

Not exactly.

For scripture tells us that Asa didn’t receive God’s message well and decided to punish the messenger out of anger, putting him in prison. He also then brutally oppressed his own people, the very people God had placed under his rule. In sum, Asa had officially lost his mind, checking out on God altogether.

STRIKE TWO!

Not surprisingly, things got worse for Asa as he got older. Just three years after he chose to reject God and follow his own desires, Judah’s king found himself afflicted with a severe disease in his feet. Would he now see the errors in his ways and correct himself, seeking God’s healing and restoration?

Nope. From God’s word we find that Asa did not seek help from the Lord for his illness, instead relying only on worldly doctors. He turned from the Great Physician to trust in earthly ones. Not a smart move as just two years later, we read where Asa died.

STRIKE THREE! YOU’RE OUT!!!

Friends, this is such a sad story. Asa had everything going his way and was basking in the light of the Lord’s blessing and favor but in the space of just seven years, he threw it all away. He could have ended his season of life on top but instead, failed down the stretch and ultimately failed and fell and lost. All because he struck out with God.

I don’t know where you are in your season of life today but I pray that this scripture passage will serve as a guide for you to assess where you are with God and make any corrections needed to ensure you finish strong in the glow of God’s blessing and favor rather than failing, falling, and striking out in the end as Asa did.

God’s promise to His Old Testament people remains the same today. If we remain with God, He will remain with us but if we choose to forsake Him, then He will forsake us in return.

My prayer is that we’ll always be on the good side of this promise, remaining grounded and dedicated to the Lord our God now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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