Scripture Passage
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.” (2 Chronicles 16:7 NLT)
Observation
It is one of the saddest phrases in the English language—“you missed your chance.” But that’s exactly what happened to King Asa of Judah, after Judah had been attacked by mercenary soldiers hired by Israel.
Asa figured he’d solve his problem with money. Since these were “for hire” soldiers from Aram, all Asa had to do was offer more money than Israel had paid, and the money-grubbers would turncoat before the ink dried on the check. He was right about that.
What he missed, however, was the divine deliverance God had planned—a deliverance that involved relief from Israel and even more—the defeat of the very soldiers Asa had just bought off.
As it was, since Asa put his trust in the king of Aram instead of in the LORD his God, he “missed [his] chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram.”
You see, though Asa didn’t perceive it, God was up to something really good (He always is). He was on full alert (He always is), scouring the land (He always is), just looking for someone who might be trusting in Him (He…well, you get the picture).
And with an opportunity like that—what a horrible loss. Worse than a military loss, Asa missed his chance…his chance to be blessed by God, delivered by God, and provided for by God in ways that exceeded his ability to believe.
I don’t want to be there. I don’t ever want to miss a divine chance like that. I want to live knowing…perceiving…fully aware that God’s looking for me to trust Him so He can surprise me with blessing!
1 comment:
In all this jumping around reading here and there that is the exact area I picked out for me. 2 Chron 16:9 "God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him. You were foolish to go for the human help when you could have had God's help..."
We MUST seek God first in all we do. Listen for the small still whisper of His word to us personally. But we no longer have men of God, prophets, and Priest to deliver personally these message to us like in the olden days now we have the bible Pastors, Priest, TV and radio. It gets a bit overwhelming to know the true guide except for the word. I must listen and be aware and compare to the word - it's all I have.
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