2 Chronicles 16:7-9 "And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. 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. (9) For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars."
The king of Israel was mad because many of the people of Israel had fled to
Judah. He began to fortify himself against Judah by overtaking cities and
reinforcing them to prevent anyone else from defecting. When King Asa heard
this was happening, he sent gold and silver to the king of Syria and asked him
to retake the cities for him. This is when Hanani came to him with the words of
today's text.
At some point in the life of Asa, he decided he could do things his own way. No
doubt he went through motions of worship by sacrificing as the law demanded,
but his heart was not right before the Lord. Have you ever gone through motions
without your heart being in the thing you are doing? Can this happen even in
times of worship? At some point, Asa began to think he could do his own
manipulating to get things done as he wanted them to be done. The Lord sent
Hanani to him. Many blessings were being witheld and would be witheld
from him because Asa had placed his dependence upon man rather than God. David
had written, "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in
man. (9) It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence
in princes. (10) All nations compassed me about: but in the name of
the LORD will I destroy them." (Psalm 118:8-10) He had known of the
ways the Lord had protected and delivered his people all through the centuries.
But even in more recent times, Asa knew that the Lord had delivered him from
the million man army of Ethiopia. Why would he now decide to turn to man
instead of God?
That's a hard question to answer. Why would anyone think that God's wisdom and
power would not be sufficient to help in time of need? Why do we as God's
people today think the way of the world would be better than the way of the
Lord? Yet, we see it happening constantly. We see it in individual lives. We
see it in our nation. We even see that thought encroaching into many
congregations. Bring the way of the world into the service and it will draw
crowds of people. " For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the
whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is
perfect toward him." I want my heart to be turned toward the Lord in
full dependence and trust in His power, wisdom, and glory.