2 Chronicles 16:1 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built 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 Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.
We can learn so much from this about God and our natural intents. Here is Asa a man who was wholly true to God and when he needed help he went to man, not God. He trusted in his own wisdom and cunning to overcome the issue at hand and it worked. I doubt he even knew he walked down a path apart from God until the seer spoke to him. It is never good for us to walk apart from God. It is always good to seek God in decisions we are thinking about making.
Look at Asa’s reaction. He was angered, retaliatory, and mean spirited. He did not even seek the Lord for his physical problem. We all have to be mindful of our ability to become neglectful and complacent with our service and honor to God. One day, one decision, one moment away from the presence of God and we can take a path away from Him. Paul told us to be on guard and to put on our whole armor for each day will be a battle with self. We are to renew our mind each day. We are to study His word and be a workman approved by Him. We are to open the door of our heart and mind to Him every single moment of each day. We are to seek and desire Him more and more each day. We are to grow in this knowledge and understanding each day. We are to confess our sins each day. We are to live by faith each day. We are to desire to hear Him speak into our life each day. We are to seek to honor and glorify Jesus each day. We are to deny self each day. We are to forgive each day. We are to be generous each day. We are to keep our eyes focused on Him each day.
Be mindful of how easy it is to trip, slip, and drift away from God. It is never God drifting away. It is always us when we do not keep a daily intentional choice to live to humbly honor, serve, glorify, follow, trust, and obey Him.