Theological Commentary: Click Here
Asa comes on
the scene to replace his father Abijah.
Asa is known as a good king. He
does right in the eyes of the Lord. He
tears down the false places of worship that have crept into the Land. He commanded the people to worship the Lord. The Bible gives us an exceptionally
interesting vocabulary words to describe the land under Asa: rest.
God’s
perspective is interesting. Human beings
think about rest in negative ways. When
the land is at rest, it’s not growing.
It’s not re-inventing itself. It’s
boring. It’s not in movement. From God’s perspective, though, rest is a
reward. Rest means there aren’t outside
threats trying to conquer. There aren’t
any political coups brewing. The economy
is going well. From a very young age,
human beings resist rest; God sees it as a reward.
Unfortunately,
though, we know that it doesn’t last.
The story of Judah is one of ebb and flow. There is faithfulness, then there is much
unfaithfulness. Then there is reform
followed by more unfaithfulness. What is
the issue?
There is a
clue in the text. Asa had to command
people to obey the Lord. The religion
was being legislated. The faithfulness
of the people wasn’t because they wanted to be faithful, they were faithful
because the king was watching. Now we
see why the story of Judah is up and down.
The heart of the people isn’t in it overall. When the king is faithful, the nation trends
well. When the king s unfaithful, the
people have free reign to obey the evil in their hearts.
Faith cannot
be legislated well. One is either in
relationship with God because one wants it or not. When obedience is present only because there
are rules and consequences for breaking the rules, it isn’t true faith.
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