In their distress

 In their distress

“But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them” (2 Chronicles 15:4).

          It is easy to be discouraged when we are in distress. If we falter in times of trouble, we are showing that our strength is limited (Prov. 24:10). Therefore, we should not be discouraged. Rather, we must cry out to God in times of trouble (Ps. 120:1). We must always strive to pray in times of trouble (Rom. 12:12). In doing so, God will answer us (Ps. 120:1).

          When we look at Chronicles 15:4, the Bible says “in their distress”. Here, “in their distress” means in those day of Israel when “it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil” (v. 5). In those days “One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress” (v. 6). At that time the people of Israel were troubled by various hardships (v. 6). Why did they suffer? What caused their distress? This was because for a long time Israel was without true God, without a priest to teach and without the law (v. 3). At that time, King Asa heard the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet (vv. 1, 8) and he took courage (v. 8). And he reformed the Israel. “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God” (14:2). He removed the foreign altars, the high places, incense altars in everytown in Judah and smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles (vv. 3, 5). And he commanded Judah to seek the Lord, and to obey His laws and commands (v. 4). To what extent did King Asa made the people of Judah to seek God was “All who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman” (15:13). So the people of Judah took an oath to the Lord (v. 14). Since they sought God eagerly, God was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side (v. 15). In the end, the kingdom of Judah was at peace under King Asa (14: 5). God gave peace to Asa, and the land was at peace, and there was no war for many years (v. 6). In other words, since King Asa and the people of Judah sought the Lord, He gave them rest on every side (v. 7). So in the days of Asa the country was at peace for 10 years (v.1). To King Asa and the people of Judah who were enjoying such peace met a great trial. The trial was Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with a vast army and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah (v. 9). At that time King Asa sought God. He cried out to the Lord as he relied on Him: “LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you” (v. 11). As a result, not only did the Cushites flee because the Gods had struck them before King Asa and the people of Judah (v. 12), but they were all fallen and did not survive (v.13). Like this, the beginning of King Asa was great. He was a king who sought God by relying entirely on God. He was the king who cried out to God. Therefore, God delivered the Cushites and Libyans a might army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen into the Asa’s hand (16:8). And God gave peace to Asa and his kingdom (14:1, 5, 6, 7). However, King Asa's end was weak. Since larger numbers had come over to King Asa from Israel when they saw that the Lord was with him (15:9), 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 (16:1). At that time King Asa 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 (v. 2) instead of seeking the Lord his God. And this is what King Asa said to King Ben-Hadad: “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” (v. 3). In other words, King Asa didn’t rely on God when Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, but relied on the king of Aram (v. 7). “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” (vv. 7-9). When King Asa heard the Hanani’s words, he was so angry with Hanani that not only he put him in prison but also he brutally oppressed some of the people (v. 10). And in the 39th year of his reign when Asa was afflicted with a severe disease in his feet he didn’t seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians (v. 12). As a result, in the 41st year of his reign Asa died (v. 13). Like this, King Asa was very weak toward the end of his life. At the beginning, he who had relied on God relied on the king of Aram and the physicians. At the beginning, he sought God but at the end he sought people. At the beginning, he enjoyed the peace that God gave him, but later he loses that peace and he died.

          The Bible Revelation 2:5 came into my mind: “Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first ….” When I consider the beginning and the ending of Asa, I cannot help but think about where he had fallen. I am wondering how could King Aza who sought and relied on his God at the beginning of his reign but later he sought and relied on the people. So I think about the words of Azariah, the son of Oded the prophet, again: “… 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” (15:2). In other words, the beginning of King Asa was great, but the reason why the later became so weak was because he forsook God. Because he wasn’t with God and didn’t seek God he was forsaken by God. Why did King Asa start with God at first, seek God with all his heart, and then was with the people and sought them? Where did he fall? As far as I am concerned, King Asa sought God wholeheartedly when the great army of the Cushites and Libyans came up against Judah. Therefore, God made him and the people of Judah victorious (14: 9-15). When they were victorious, the men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder (v. 13). They destroyed all the villages around Gerar and plundered all these villages (v. 14). They also attacked the camps of the herdsmen and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem (v. 15). After the victory, King Asa’s material became more numerous and he also became proud. So he no longer turned to God and sought Him (15:4). At that time he had no true God, no teaching priest and no law (v. 3). He didn’t seek God (cf. 14: 4), he confined God's seer Hanani in prison (16:10) and didn’t obey the God's law and command (cf. 14:4). As a result he fell. He had sinned against God. He lost his first act (Rev. 2:5). Didn’t we, like King Asa, lose our first act? Didn’t we also fall? Aren’t we also no longer rely on God but rely on people? Aren’t we obeying God's commands any longer? Aren’t we meeting God anymore because we no longer seek God? If so, then we must now face troubles. And we must return to God and seek Him in times of trouble. When we do so, God will surely meet us.