Dangerous Digression

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from entering or leaving King Asa’s territory in Judah. Asa responded by removing the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple of the LORD and the royal palace. He sent it to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus, along with this message: “Let there be a treaty between you and me like the one between your father and my father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.” [2 Chronicles 16.1-3]

This sounds like a perfectly reasonable strategy. Ben-Hadad did indeed help Asa and subsequently Judah was rescued from Baasha of Israel. However, this was not the end of the story. Asa had digressed from his earlier trust in God alone (see Thus Says The LORD based on yesterday's OYCB reading). 

Let's pick up where God sent a prophet to Asa afterwards:

At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him, “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the LORD your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram. Don’t you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and charioteers? At that time you relied on the LORD, and he handed them over to you. The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war.” [2 Chronicles 16.7-9]

Instead of trusting God alone as he did in his encounter with the Ethiopians and Libyans, Asa paid for help from Ben-Hadad. But as it turned out, Ben-Hadad's help cost Asa far more than the money he paid for it. Asa's turn to Ben-Hadad was a turn away from God.

And then, Asa's response to being called out on it by Hanani revealed further critical error:

Asa became so angry with Hanani for saying this that he threw him into prison and put him in stocks. At that time Asa also began to oppress some of his people. [2 Chronicles 16.10]

Instead of repenting, Asa got mad and, apparently, stayed mad. As digression into faithlessness goes, Asa only further turned away from God as time progressed:

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the LORD’s help but turned only to his physicians. So he died in the forty-first year of his reign. [2 Chronicles 16.12-13]

Asa digressed from trusting in God alone to trusting completely in his physicians.

I want to point out some important facts of how this story developed in order for us to understand what it says to us today (and it says much). 

First, in his conflict with the Ethiopians and Libyans, Asa sought no help whatsoever from any outside source but trusted in the LORD ALONE. From today's text we understand that the eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. Asa did that and it was good.

Then later in a similar situation (and we must not miss this!), when Asa hired Ben-Hadad for his services, he used silver and gold from the Temple of God to make payment to Ben-Hadad. In this way, Asa included God in his otherwise faithless arrangement. After all, God ultimately provided that gold and silver, right? The careful reader should see where this is going!

Finally, by the time disease overtook Asa's feet, he had digressed into full abandonment of his faith in God. He transitioned from trusting in God for all to not trusting God at all. His pivotal faith failure began with his transition of mixing God (using the silver and gold from God's Temple) with something other than God (enlisting Ben-Hadad's help).

Is it any wonder that Asa's sad demise ended with his full trust in medicine instead of God?

Should it not terrify us that mixing God with medicine is our same transitional justification toward complete abandonment of faith in God alone? Does it make us mad to be called out on it?

Rather than getting mad at being confronted, Asa should have simply repented. But instead he proudly chose to defend his mixed faith and that anger eventually affected his entire rule as king. Worse yet, his unrepentant attitude led to his complete abandonment of God.

Do we dare risk that same dangerous digression in our lives by mixing our faith in God with faith in anything else? Medicine is only one of many costly idols at our disposal today.

As Hanani called out Asa, I am calling myself out today for mixed faith which, in God's eyes, is no faith at all.

I encourage you to pray this prayer with me:

Father, forgive me for mixing my faith in You alone with anything else. What a fool I have been! Forgive me for this dangerous transitional step toward full abandonment of You. Forgive me for reasoning that You give me money so I can pay for idols. May I be strengthened as You find my heart fully committed to You and You alone.