Asa the good king

2Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.^a 4He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his laws and commands. 5He removed the high places and incense altars in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. 6He built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, for the Lord gave him rest.

9Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with an army of thousands upon thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. 10Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.

11Then 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.”

12The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, 13and 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. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. 14They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror of the Lord had fallen on them. They looted all these villages, since there was much plunder there. 15They also attacked the camps of the herders and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Thoughts: For the next few weeks we will be looking at the good kings of Judah (there were no good kings in Israel).  Asa started out great.  He sought to reform the worship of the Lord.  Solomon with his 1,000 wives and Rehoboam with his Ammonite mother, diluted the worship of God with the worship of other gods.  Asa deposed the queen mother for worshiping the fertility goddess Asherah. 
     Asa's faith was tested by the Cushites.  The Cushites allied with the Lybians came up from Africa- from what is not the border areas of South Sudan and Ethiopia.  Asa did not rely on his own strategies but on God's help.  God indeed helped him. 
      Later when the northern kingdom of Israel invaded Judah.  Asa, instead of calling on God as before, called on the King of Syria.  In doing so he was taking God;s glory.  God confronted him.  Asa was good, but still had doubts. 
     

Prayer: Lord, help me to rely on you in the tough times- and not just on medicine or advice.  Let me see that you are the greatest helper of all time.