Our testimony is never safe until we get home. You may know someone who loved God really well until they didn’t. In the same way, some of the people in the Bible who started well, finished poorly. When Asa walked with God, God was with him. But when he didn’t, things devolved quickly.
Asa started by abolishing the foreign altars and high places. He led a revival in Israel. Asa prayed and found God’s strength for thirty-five years. When he was threatened by the King of Israel, he asked a foreign king for help and made a compromise. Thankfully, Asa had prophets to tell him the truth. Azariah had told him. “The Lord is with you when you are with him” (15:2). This time Hanani called him to account for relying on the Syrians instead of on the Lord.
You have a point of view and I have a point of view. God has view. God’s eyes range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. Here is accountability: God sees us. Here is affirmation: God strengthens us when our hearts are fully committed to him. Like Asa, our history with God teaches us to trust him. When we are self-reliant, we may miss the opportunity to see what God can do.
To make matters worse, Asa threw the preacher in prison for telling him the truth. But what if we have failed, and someone speaks the truth to us? We should definitely listen with a teachable attitude. As one poet put it, “Be it understood: the truth will not hurt you, unless, of course, it should.” Let’s finish well.
