He Sought Not to the Lord
Today’s Verse:
And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians. ~1 Chronicles 16:12
They say most men (including me) are notorious for not asking their wife for advice or help when they are lost while driving. Before we had GPS, a wife would tell her husband to stop at a gas station or store and ask for directions. Instead, the husband would insist that he will find the location they need to go to. A frustrated wife would simply throw up her hands and let her husband know how stubborn he is. All of us have a streak of stubbornness in us. However, stubbornness towards God is met with very serious consequences.
We see the disease.
“And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet.” Asa refused to seek God’s help against King Baasha. When confronted about it by one of God’s men, Asa became wroth and imprisoned him. The Bible says that he was diseased in his feet. There was the abruptness in this disease. When it occurred, it disrupted his life and made him give attention to it. There was the adversity in this disease. It was painful and made it difficult for him to walk. There was the analogy in his disease. Stubbornness is a spiritual disease that impedes our spiritual progress. It shows that we are headstrong and self-willed.
We see the decline.
We are told that his disease was exceeding great. It became worse and worse. He may have become swollen, and sores may have developed. His feet may have become grotesque in appearance. He had constant discomfort and pain. When we are stubborn, we get worse and worse. We can be a pain to others and ourselves. Our self-will makes us impossible to reason with. We perceive the problem being other people and not us. We are adversarial with others and constantly in conflict with other people. We become very cynical. Like Asa, we become short-tempered and belligerent if we are corrected. The more stubborn we become, the more our spiritual decline.
We see the defiance.
“Yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.” Asa was stubborn to the Lord. In his early days, he did not hesitate to humble himself and ask God for help. Yet, after being king for 39 years, his stubbornness made him defiant and he refused to ask God for help with his disease. Instead, he sought all the medical doctors. If only Asa had gotten right with the Lord, humbled himself, and prayed for healing: God would have intervened. Interestingly, Asa’s name means “physician.” The Hebrew word for physician is “rapha,” which means healer. Asa had access to Jehovah Rapha, the Lord Who heals, but refused to seek Him.
We see the death.
Asa died in the 41st year of his reign. He died two years after his diagnosis. It was a slow and painful death. Stubbornness leads to spiritual death. Progress is halted. Fruitfulness is non-existent. You have a name that you live, but you are dead. God told King Saul that stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Stubbornness has no faith in God. Stubbornness impedes the Christian life from effectiveness. There is no faith, no prayer, no love, no humility, and no blessing where there is stubbornness. People could not avoid noticing the sight and smell of Asa’s feet as he worsened and eventually died. Stubbornness, in a similar way, is unsightly and gives off an unpleasant odor. Be careful of becoming stubborn and hardened in your spiritual life. Keep your heart humble and soft towards the Lord.
Have a humble God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Psalms 36-39