King Asa started out as a reformation king who was zealous for God. 2 Chronicles 14 :2 states that Asa did what was right in God’s sight by removing foreign altars, high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord and to obey all of His commandments. When faced with the overwhelming army of the Cushites, Asa prayed and the Lord struck down his enemies.

Twenty five years later Asa faced another army: the king of Israel. Instead of praying and relying on God he decided to empty the silver and gold out of the Lord’s temple to hire Ben_Hadad, king of Aram as his mercenaries. While this initially seemed like a great plan and did result in Israel’s withdrawal, the end result was less than desirable for king Asa. Hanani the seer told Asa this foolish act of not relying on God but on human beings would mean that Judah would be at war for the rest of his reign.

In response to the seer’s message Asa had him imprisoned and started to brutally oppress some of his own people! In response God gives Asa a crippling disease in his feet. Instead of repenting Asa calls on physicians to heal him but they are powerless to find a cure. Asa dies in disgrace two years later!

What do I learn from this event in the Bible? A person can have a strong love and desire to serve God but without total reliance on Him to sustain that desire one will wilt before crossing the finish line! One simply cannot rely on one’s own strength or on the strength of others to accomplish kingdom goals! Without God our attempts to be holy are merely dust chasing after dust!