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Objective

In this lesson, we’ll see through King Asa’s life that every challenge we face is an opportunity to trust God and grow spiritually, and that our responses to these challenges reveal the true condition of our hearts.

Key Verse

2 Chronicles 15:2: And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.”

Introduction

King Asa may not be one of the most famous kings in the Bible, but his 41-year reign over Judah teaches us powerful lessons about faithfulness, failure, and the importance of consistently trusting God through every season of life. Unlike many of the kings who ruled after Solomon, Asa was described as a good king who genuinely sought to honor the Lord.

What makes Asa’s story particularly remarkable is the environment he came from. He was the third king of Judah after the kingdom divided, and his grandfather was Rehoboam, who had made the foolish decision that split Israel in two. Asa grew up in a family where idolatry was practiced openly, yet from the beginning of his reign, his heart was completely devoted to the Lord.

1 Kings 15:11: Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done.

This reminds us that standing firmly for truth may sometimes put us at odds with our own family members. Asa had to make difficult choices that went against the religious practices he had grown up with. He even removed his own grandmother from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable idol for worshiping Asherah. This took tremendous courage and showed that Asa was willing to put God’s truth above family loyalty when the two conflicted.

We can see Asa’s devotion to the Lord in three clear ways. He removed all the idols from the land, he brought Judah back to following God’s Word, and he worked to strengthen and build up the cities of his kingdom. This gives us an excellent pattern to follow: we should pursue holiness in our personal lives, ground ourselves in Scripture, and work to build up God’s people around us.

Asa started his reign remarkably well, but sadly he didn’t finish as strongly as he began. His life shows us how even faithful believers can gradually drift away from complete dependence on God. In this lesson, we’ll examine three major challenges that Asa faced during his reign and see how his responses changed over time:

• Invasion from the south—when Ethiopia attacked Judah
• Invasion from the north—when Israel threatened Jerusalem
• Personal sickness—when disease affected his feet in his old age

Through each situation, we’ll discover important truths about how we should respond to the difficulties that come our way.

Asa’s First Challenge

The first major test of Asa’s leadership came when a massive army from Ethiopia invaded Judah from the south. This was an overwhelming military threat that could have easily destroyed the nation.

2 Chronicles 14:9-11: Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with an army of thousands upon thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.”

Notice how Asa responded to this crisis. He faced this challenge with what we might call “prayerful action”—he both prayed earnestly to God and then took practical steps to meet the enemy. This balance between trusting God and taking responsibility is crucial for every believer to understand.

Asa’s prayer reveals several important things he understood about God’s character. First, he knew that God’s power is not limited by human circumstances. It doesn’t matter to God whether an army is large or small, whether resources are plentiful or scarce. As Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”

Second, Asa understood that God’s honor was at stake in this battle. When God’s people face opposition, it’s ultimately God’s reputation that is being challenged. Asa prayed, “Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.” This is the kind of prayer that moves God’s heart—when we’re concerned not just about our own welfare, but about seeing God’s name lifted up and honored.

It would have been wrong for Asa to pray without taking action, but it would have been equally wrong for him to take action without praying. Asa did both, and God blessed his faithfulness with a tremendous victory.

2 Chronicles 14:12-13: The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the Lord and his forces.

But God did more than just give Asa victory in battle. He also sent a prophet with an important message for the king.

2 Chronicles 15:2-3: He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law.”

God reminded Asa that victory can be just as dangerous as defeat if it makes us careless about our relationship with Him. We often think that spiritual renewal is only necessary after we’ve failed or been defeated, but God told Asa that this was actually the perfect time to seek Him more earnestly. We are often most vulnerable to spiritual compromise right after we’ve experienced God’s blessing and victory.

(Notebook Moment: Think about a time when God gave you a significant victory or blessing. How did you respond? Did success make you more dependent on God or less dependent on Him?)

Asa responded to this prophetic message with humility and took immediate action to lead his people in spiritual renewal. He removed more idols from the land, repaired the altar of the Lord, and led the people in making a covenant to seek God with all their hearts. This shows us the heart of a godly leader—someone who remains teachable and responsive to God’s word even after experiencing great success.

Asa’s Second Challenge

After many years of peace and prosperity, Asa faced another major challenge. This time the threat came from the north, when Baasha, king of Israel, built a fortress at Ramah to control all traffic going in and out of Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 16:1-3: In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah. Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”

This time, Asa responded in a completely different way than he had during his first crisis. Instead of turning to God in prayer, he took the treasures from the temple and sent them to the king of Syria, asking him to attack Israel from the north so that Baasha would have to withdraw his forces from Judah.

The plan worked perfectly from a human perspective. The king of Syria broke his treaty with Israel and attacked their northern cities, forcing Baasha to abandon his fortress at Ramah. But even though the strategy succeeded, it was not God’s will for Asa to handle the situation this way.

Perhaps Asa had grown comfortable in his relationship with God and was no longer seeking the Lord’s guidance like he used to. The plan seemed so logical and practical. He had plenty of money available to make the deal work, and the solution was simple and effective. But just because something works doesn’t mean it’s what God wants us to do. God will sometimes allow us to succeed in our own plans, but there will always be a cost when we rely on our own wisdom instead of seeking His direction.

Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

God sent the prophet Hanani to confront Asa about his decision, and the prophet’s message was both a rebuke and a reminder of what God could have done.

2 Chronicles 16:7-9: At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”

The prophet reminded Asa of his earlier victory over the Ethiopians and pointed out that God was ready to do the same thing again if Asa had just trusted Him. But this time, Asa’s response revealed how much his heart had changed over the years.

2 Chronicles 16:10: Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

Instead of responding with humility as he had done years before, Asa became angry and imprisoned God’s messenger. This shows us how gradually our hearts can harden when we stop walking closely with the Lord. The man who had once welcomed prophetic correction now rejected it and even persecuted the one who brought it.

Asa’s Third Challenge

The final challenge Asa faced was a personal one. In his old age, he developed a serious disease that affected his feet.

2 Chronicles 16:12: In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians.

Once again, Asa tried to handle his problem without turning to God for help. The text doesn’t criticize him for consulting doctors—medical care is one of God’s gifts to us. But it does point out that Asa sought help from physicians while failing to seek help from the Lord. Interestingly, Asa’s name actually means “healer,” yet he was unable to heal himself and forgot to turn to the ultimate Healer.

This raises an important question about the relationship between sickness and sin. Sometimes our physical problems are directly connected to spiritual issues in our lives, but sometimes they’re not. Jesus made this clear in His earthly ministry. When He encountered a man who had been born blind, His disciples asked if the blindness was caused by the man’s sin or his parents’ sin. Jesus replied that neither was the cause—this man was born blind so that God’s power could be displayed through his healing.

But on another occasion, after Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda, He found him later and said, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” This shows us that sometimes there is a direct connection between our sin and our physical problems.

John 9:2-3: His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

John 5:14: Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

The point is that we shouldn’t try to read God’s mind about why specific illnesses occur. What we can be sure of is that we should always bring our needs and problems to God first, whether they’re spiritual, physical, or emotional. Even when we use medical care or other practical helps, we should recognize that God is the ultimate source of all healing and help.

(Notebook Moment: When you face health problems or other difficulties, what is your first instinct? Do you naturally turn to God first, or do you tend to exhaust other options before seeking His help?)

From Asa’s experience with illness, we can learn several important principles. First, even godly people suffer from disease and physical problems. Our faithfulness to God doesn’t guarantee perfect health in this fallen world. Second, God sometimes chooses to heal His servants supernaturally, but sometimes He allows them to suffer and even die from their illnesses. Elisha, one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history, died from an illness even though he had been used by God to heal others. Third, we should always bring our needs to God first, recognizing that He is sovereign over every aspect of our lives.

Conclusion

Asa’s life ended sadly. 2 Chronicles 16:13 tells us that he died in the forty-first year of his reign. His last years were marked by warfare, anger, and a refusal to seek God’s help when he needed it most. Yet even in this disappointing ending, we can still see God’s grace. The Scriptures continue to describe Asa as a king whose “heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life,” and his people mourned him and honored him with a great funeral.

(Notebook Moment: What patterns do you see in your own life when it comes to trusting God through different types of challenges? Are there areas where you tend to rely on yourself instead of seeking His guidance?)

Asa’s story teaches us several vital lessons about facing the challenges that come our way. First, every difficulty we encounter is an opportunity to trust God more deeply and grow spiritually stronger. How we respond to these challenges reveals the true condition of our hearts.

Second, we need to maintain the same dependence on God through success and failure, victory and defeat, youth and old age. It’s easy to trust God when we’re desperate, but it requires intentional effort to keep trusting Him when life is going well.

Third, we must be careful not to let our hearts gradually harden toward God’s correction. The same person who welcomes God’s guidance early in life can become resistant to His voice later if we’re not careful to maintain a humble, teachable spirit.

Finally, we should remember that while we can learn from Asa’s mistakes, we serve a God who is always ready to forgive and restore us when we return to Him. No matter how far we may have drifted from complete dependence on Him, He invites us to seek Him with all our hearts and promises that we will find Him.

Psalm 37:3-5: Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this.

The God who strengthened Asa through his first challenge is the same God who wants to strengthen us through every difficulty we face. Let us learn from both Asa’s victories and his failures, and let us commit ourselves to trust God completely through every season of our lives.

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