Year One, November 12

If You Seek Him, He Will Be Found by You1

2 Chronicles 15:1-17

1The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. (While they were still thrilled with the victory it was a good time to remind them from where their great strength came. God sent them a prophet while the rewards of obeying him were before their eyes, to urge them to continue obeying the Lord. The prophet did not congratulate and flatter king Asa. Instead, he reminded him that he must continue to follow the Lord who had done so much for him. Pastors are not sent to please us, but to guide us.)

3“For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.” (Israel’s history was clear. When they were faithful to God they prospered, when they turned their backs on him he did not bless them. They made or unmade their own fortunes. Have we not also learned by this time that we are happy when we live near to God and miserable when we fall back into our old evil habits? Let us not forget this remarkable truth.)

8As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the LORD. (The cleanest room can be cleaned even more. Asa investigated the situation and found there was more to be done. Here and there, the idol worshippers secretly kept their idols, but this time they must be found and destroyed.) 9And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

10They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11They sacrificed to the LORD on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. 12And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13but that whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14They swore an oath to the LORD with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. 15And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around. (The people were great at promising, but slow in performing. Their hearts were fickle. What they resolved on one day with great enthusiasm, they forgot the next. It was not long before they would again fall in love with their idols. They were a lot like we are!)

16Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. (This was a masterstroke. He removed the queen-mother and destroyed her idol in the most humiliating manner. The king would not secretly allow sin even in those nearest and dearest to him. It must have caused him much pain, but he loved his God too well to back away from doing what he knew was right.) 17But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. (There is imperfection in even the best work. Everything we do includes a “but.” The false gods were torn down, but the forbidden altars to the true God were left untouched. This may be thought to be a lesser evil, but it would have been better to follow through with all the work. Still, we must admire Asa. His heart and intention were right before God.)

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¹ 2 Chronicles 15:2