Sunday
Morning Bible Study
December 15, 2002
Introduction
Asa was a good king. He had done
much to bring the nation of Judah
back to the Lord. He had reigned over a
period of peace and prosperity. He had wisely
built up the nation, building and protecting the cities in his kingdom. He had
amassed a huge army of 580,000 men.
At one point in his reign, he found himself outnumbered though, facing
1,000,000 Ethiopians on his doorstep. He
knew that he was in trouble and he cried to the Lord for help:
(2 Chr
14:11
KJV) And Asa cried
unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether
with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we
rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art
our God; let not man prevail against thee.
After this great victory, Asa continued to build the nation and lead them
even closer to the Lord.
As he was at his strongest point, he once again faced an enemy army, this
time from the northern kingdom of Israel. But this time he wasn’t as desperate as
before. He took some money out of the Temple
treasury and sent it with a message to the king of Syria,
which was to the north of Israel. His idea was for the Syrians to attack Israel
from the north so Israel
would retreat from attacking him to the south.
The plan worked. The army of the
northern kingdom backed off and the nation of Judah
was saved.
:7-10 Hanani’s rebuke
:7 at that time Hanani the seer came …and said unto him, Because thou hast
relied on the king of Syria…the
host of the king of Syria
escaped out of thine hand.
Hanani – Chananiy – “gracious”. I wonder if we ought to be careful not to
read Hanani’s words with anger, but instead with
“grace”.
hast relied – sha‘an – to lean on, trust in, support
The implication is that God wanted to give Asa victory greater than just
the victory over Baasha. God wanted to give Asa victory over the Syrians as
well. But because Asa didn’t ask God
what God’s plans were, Asa ended up making the Syrians stronger by giving them
money and having them attack Israel.
Lesson
God’s plans may be bigger than yours
All Asa could think about was how to be victorious over the northern kingdom
of Israel.
Yet God had intended for Asa to conquer the Syrians as well.
What if God wants to take you far past where your dreams are?
I’m not trying to just encourage you to dream bigger than you’ve ever
dreamed just for the sake of dreaming. This is not about your dreams. It’s
about God’s plans.
Illustration
“Let’s build a bridge across the Niagara,” someone
proposed over a century ago. Great idea, it would save miles of travel and
solve many problems. But how were they to begin? The canyon walls were too
steep, and the rapids were too wild to get that first strand across from cliff
to cliff. Then someone got a bright idea. They’d offer a ten dollar prize to
the kid who could fly a kite from one side to the other. That’s how the first
string got across. It was then connected to larger string, and it in turn was
connected to a slender cable. And the slender cable was connected to the strong
cable that made the entire construction possible.
When the project was first announced, the critics laughed at the project.
When they heard that a “kite was going to solve the problem,” the sophisticated
engineers had a field day. Well, history had the last laugh. One young boy,
Homan Walsh, flew the first string across the chasm with his kite in 1848. He
succeeded and the process worked just as it was envisioned. The boy collected
his ten dollars; the great suspension bridge was started with a single string.
I imagine for that young boy, all he had in mind was flying his kite across
and collecting the ten dollars. But much bigger things were at stake. Someone bigger than him had a bigger plan.
What if God wants to take you far past where your dreams are?
I know that there are some of us who tend to dream “pipe dreams”. We can
get caught up in our own little fantasy worlds, dreaming of “life out there”
when we ought to be working on “life in here”.
But there are some of us who don’t ever dare to risk at all. We always play
it “safe”.
What if God wants to take you far past where your dreams are?
(Eph 3:20
KJV) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask
or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Take time to find out where God wants you to go – don’t head out the door
without a map.
:8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many
chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered
them into thine hand.
Lubims – Luwbiy – Libyans – “empty-hearted” or
“afflicted”; an area in northern Africa.
didst rely – sha‘an – to lean on, trust in, support
This was the battle back in 2Chronicles 14, when Asa was outnumbered
2-to-1.
Lesson
There’s danger in strength
When Asa was unable to face the Ethiopians, he was in a great place.
It’s when he could “afford” to handle the situation at Ramah that he got
himself into trouble.
Stress testing. In various types
of industry, there are tests called “stress tests”. The idea is to see just how
strong something is.
Illustration
In a recent issue of “Meat & Poultry” magazine, editors quoted from
“Feathers,” the publication of the California Poultry Industry Federation,
telling the following story: It seems the US Federal Aviation Administration
has a unique device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. The
device is a gun that launches a dead chicken at a plane’s windshield at
approximately the speed the plane flies. The theory is that if the windshield
doesn’t crack from the carcass impact, it’ll survive a real collision with a
bird during flight. It seems the British were very interested in this and
wanted to test a windshield on a brand new, speedy locomotive they’re
developing. They borrowed the FAA’s chicken launcher, loaded the chicken and
fired. The ballistic chicken shattered the windshield, went through the
engineer’s chair, broke an instrument panel and embedded itself in the back
wall of the engine cab. The British were stunned and asked the FAA to recheck
the test to see if everything was done correctly. The FAA reviewed the test
thoroughly and had one recommendation: “Use a thawed chicken.”
I think that sometimes we put ourselves through our own “stress
tests”. Sometimes we get a couple of
victories under our belts and think we can handle anything – that is – anything
without the Lord.
In reality, we ALWAYS need the Lord.
It’s not that we should never become strong.
It’s that we never grow out of needing the Lord.
Paul wrote to the Galatians:
(Gal 3:3 KJV) Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye
now made perfect by the flesh?
How are we going to handle our problems?
Have we “grown up” enough to learn to handle our problems
all by ourselves?
In reality, I need to be in a place where I trust the Lord all the time.
I know that by myself I can’t do it.
“But I can do
it” I might tell myself. That’s when I
start going down some dangerous paths.
:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to
show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
run to and fro – shuwt
– (Polel) to go to and fro, go eagerly or quickly to and fro
to show himself strong – chazaq – (Hithpael) to put forth strength, use one’s strength; to
hold strongly with
perfect – shalem – complete, safe, perfect, whole, full,
at peace; loyal
(2 Chr 16:9 ICB) The Lord searches all the earth for people who have given themselves completely to him.
He wants to make them strong.
God is actively looking for people whom He’s going to help. He’s looking for people who have hearts that
are loyal and committed to Him.
Lesson
Three types of “givers”
This is something that Pastor Chuck has taught us over the years…
1) The “Sell me” giver
This is the person that needs to be sold on the reason they should be
giving to you.
If you are going to open a ministry to recovering alcoholics, and you are
going to ask for some financial help, these are the people that you make the brochures
for. These are the people that you need to give all the statistics to, to show
how successful your program will be. You might even have a reporter from the
Register contact them about their gift so their name can be in the paper. If
you do a good enough job of convincing this type of giver, they will get out
their checkbook and write you a check.
2) The “Inform me” giver
This is the person who needs to simply be told of your needs. They know
they need to be giving, but they need to be informed of just how much you need.
They need to be told of the needs for your project. And their checkbook comes
out.
3) The Smart Investor
This is the person who might be a recovering alcoholic. He already knows what the need is. He too has
a desire to do a work in the community. He’s been looking to find the person
that is doing what he already has in mind. When he comes across you and sees
that you had the same ideas as him, he writes a check.
Why is this important to know? What kind of a giver do you think God is? It
will affect the way you pray. It will affect the way you live your life.
Some people think that God is the “sell me” kind of giver. When they pray,
you get the idea that they are trying to convince God to do things their way. This
is the person who comes up with their
program, their idea, and then tries
hard to “sell” God on the idea. “If I
can just get God to bless my idea”.
Some people think God is the “inform me” kind of giver. Their prayers are
all about filling God in with the current needs. Perhaps if God knew just how
bad the problem was, He would respond.
In reality, God is the “Smart Investor”.
He has His own plans about what needs to be done.
He’s looking for people who are doing the things that He’s
interested in.
He’s going to “show Himself strong” to the person who
doing the things He’s looking for.
God is looking to invest in the person whose heart is in
the right place.
Lesson
God is looking at hearts
We might be thinking that we have to come up with a way to get God to
answer our prayer.
What we really need to is to get our heart to where we’re the one that God
is looking for.
:9 Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt
have wars.
Lesson
What “works” isn’t always right.
Sometimes we have the idea, “Hey, it doesn’t matter how I do it, as long as
it gets done!”
The end doesn’t always justify the means.
Relationships – some people cook
up ways to make a relationship work - their goal is to get married, and
whatever it takes to get there is okay.
Some people compromise their values and have sex before they get married. Other
people move in together before they get married. Others will lie about their
background or pretend to be something they’re not.
God wants your marriage to be built on the correct foundation. He wants a
marriage to be centered around Him. He wants a marriage centered around truth –
being real with each other. He wants a marriage centered on unconditional love.
He wants a relationship built on the commitment of marriage.
Success in life – some people
feel that they ought to be successful in their career. They’ll do whatever it
takes.
Some will cheat or backstab people at work to get ahead.
Others might do things like abort a baby because it is inconvenient. A baby
might make me change my plans for success. Since when is it okay to kill an
unborn child?
What do you do if you’ve done some of these foolish things?
If you are still doing something foolish, stop it and turn your life
around. Ask God to make your life different.
(Hosea 6:1 KJV) Come, and let us return unto the
LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind
us up.
Ask God for forgiveness.
(1 John 1:9 KJV) If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jesus died on a cross in order to pay for your sins. Come to Him.
:10 Then Asa was wroth with the seer …
At an earlier time, Asa was confronted by another prophet. At that time, this was Asa’s
reaction:
(2 Chr 15:8 KJV) And when Asa heard these
words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the
abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin …
But something has changed in Asa. He doesn’t seem to be willing to listen
to what God has to say. He’s just angry.
Lesson
Don’t get angry when you’re the one
at fault
Illustration
Back in the cowboy days, a westbound wagon train was lost and low on food.
No other humans had been seen for days. And then they saw an old Jewish man
sitting beneath a tree. The leader rushed to him and said, “We’re lost and
running out of food. Is there someplace ahead where we can get some food?” “Vell,” the old Jew said, “I wouldn’t go up dat hill und down de udder side. Some vun
told me you’ll run into a big bacon tree.” “A bacon tree?” asked the wagon
leader. “Yah, a bacon tree. Trust me. For nuttin vud I lie.” The leader goes back and tells his people that
if nothing else, they might be able to find food on the other side of the next
ridge. “So why did he say not to go there?” some of the pioneers asked. “Oh,
you know those Jews – they don’t eat bacon!” So the wagon train goes up the
hill and down the other side. Suddenly, Indians attack and massacre everyone
except the leader, who manages to escape back to the old man, who’s enjoying a glass
of tea. The near-dead man starts shouting, “You fool! You sent us to our
deaths! We followed your instructions, but there was no bacon tree – just
hundreds of Indians – who killed everyone!” The old Jewish man hold up his hand
and says, “Oy, vait a minute.”
Then he gets out an English-Yiddish dictionary and begins to thumb through it.
“Gevalt!” he exclaims. “I made my self a big mistake.
It vuz not a bacon tree, it vuz
a ham bush!”
Hey, whether it was a bacon tree or a ham bush, the wagon train was warned
not to go!
The truth is, Hanani is right. And Asa is having a hard time hearing it.
Perhaps it’s because Asa has grown as a king. Perhaps it’s because he’s
gotten to the point where nobody can tell him anything.
Illustration
There was an officer in the navy who had always dreamed of commanding a
battleship. He finally achieved that dream and was given commission of the
newest and proudest ship in the fleet. One stormy night, as the ship plowed
through the seas, the captain was on duty on the bridge when off to the port he
spotted a strange light rapidly closing with his own vessel. Immediately he
ordered the signalman to flash the message to the unidentified craft, “Alter
your course ten degrees to the south.” Only a moment had passed before the
reply came: “Alter your course ten degrees to the north.” Determined that his
ship would take a backseat to no other, the captain snapped out the order to be
sent: “Alter course ten degrees—I am the CAPTAIN!” The response beamed back,
“Alter your course ten degrees—I am Seaman Third Class Jones.” Now infuriated,
the captain grabbed the signal light with his own hands and fired off: “Alter
course, I am a battleship.” The reply came back. “Alter your course, I am a
lighthouse.”
No matter how big or important any of us think we are, we need to pay
attention to what God says. We should
ALWAYS alter our course to match His.