Strengthened Hands
Today's Verse:
Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. ~2 Chronicles 15:7
The first 15 years of Asa’s reign were marked by a godly desire to do right before the eyes of the Lord. He put away much of the idol worship and led the people of Judah to follow the Lord. He demonstrated great faith and reliance upon the Lord when the Ethiopians tried to overtake Judah. However, he came to a critical moment of his reign and spiritual life. It is easy for us to slack off from our focus and let things slip. It is easy for us to be comfortable and forget how much we need God. It is easy for us to be consumed with our daily affairs and becoming vain and selfish through accumulation and accomplishments. We, frankly, can get too busy doing our thing and forget what the Lord wants us to do. It was at this critical moment God sent the prophet Azariah to Asa. Azariah gave him a stern commandment and exhorted him, “Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.” This morning, let us take to heart the spirit in which we are to serve the Lord.
We must do our work with counsel.
Azariah was God’s prophet to Asa. In nine verses, Asa was given spot-on counsel on how to serve the Lord. If we are to serve the Lord acceptably, we must have a spirit of meekness by which we receive the engrafted Word. God’s Word never fails. God’s Word is always timely. However, our human tendency is to get used to what we hear, place little value on the application, and we let His Word fall to the ground. Every time God’s Word is preached, there is valuable counsel given on how to do God’s work.
We must do our work with courage.
We are told that Asa took courage and put away the abominable idols and renewed the altar of the Lord. These were things that had been placed on the back burner for the previous 15 years. God told him to be strong in spite of pushback and get it done. It takes great courage to publicly condemn the worship of false gods and give preeminence to the worship of the one true and living God. Too many of us are silent about our faith and are not proactive in getting the Word of God to people who need to hear it. We must be strong and courageous.
We must do our work with character.
Asa was told to be strong and let not his hands be weak. God was telling him not to be feeble and timid. Don’t buckle to the voice of the critic. Don’t let popular opinion determine what you are supposed to do. Don’t let your peers keep you from doing more for the Lord. When it is time to serve the Lord, we must do it with vigor, enthusiasm, perseverance, and much effort. As the saying goes, take the bull by the horns!
We must do our work with conviction.
As Asa took away the abominable idols, he had to deal with pushback in his own family. His mother was a major idol worshiper. With conviction, he removed her from being queen. He took a stand against the idol that she had built, and he broke, stamped it into pieces, and burned it at the brook Kidron. He decided sin was sin and that it had to be dealt with, even within in his own family.
We must do our work with contribution.
When the people that were watching from afar saw his heart for the Lord, many came and joined ranks with him. People are attracted to a man who loves God and takes a stand for Him. In addition, he took things that had been dedicated and brought them into the house of the Lord. He sacrificed and made a major contribution for the work. The work for God is never without cost and sacrifice.
We must let our work be completed.
The best part of all he did is that he finished unfinished business. God gave him 20 years of rest when He saw that Asa’s service was complete.
“Let not your hands be weak.” Let us awaken to the fact that God has more for us to do.
Have a strengthened God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: 1 Kings 21-22