GOOD START... BAD FINISH!

“GOD is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people

who are totally committed to him. You were foolish to go for human help when you could have had God's help.

Now you're in trouble--one round of war after another."
2 Chronicles 16:9
THE MESSAGE BIBLE

King Asa was the third king of Judah and reigned forty-one years. His initial years as king were marked by reform and devotion to God. I Kings 15:11 says, “Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord.” He commanded Judah to ‘seek the Lord God of their fathers and do the law and the commandment’ (II Chronicles 14:4). Asa removed his own grandmother from being the queen because she had made an idol in a grove!
The Ethiopian army came up against the children of Judah and Asa prepared to meet them in battle. In II Chronicles 14:11, Asa cries out to the Lord and says ‘Lord, only you can help weak people against strong people! Help us, Lord our God! We depend on you. We fight against this large army in your name. Lord, you are our God! Don't let anyone win against you!’ The Lord responds and gives the children of Judah a great victory over their enemies.
Later, God sent the prophet Azariah to Asa and says “The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you look for the Lord, you will find him. But if you leave him, he will leave you.” With this promise of God’s presence, Asa continues his reforms and led the people in making a covenant to seek the Lord with all their heart and soul and said whoever refused would be put to death! Asa has a good start in reigning over the kingdom of Judah. He went from town to town throughout the land, removing pagan altars and shrines and prohibiting the sins associated with them. He restored proper worship of the LORD as the national religion.
However, when the King of Baasha comes up against the children of Israel, instead of seeking God, Asa makes a league with the king of Syria with the treasures from God’s house! They win the battle, but God sends another prophet, Hanani, with a word for Asa. In essence, God reminds Asa how for many years he sought His counsel and depended upon Him for protection. In return, God gave him peace. Now, since he had chosen the arm of the flesh, the time of peace would end and they would have war after war. Rather than repenting, Asa was so enraged he put the prophet in prison and began to oppress the people. Furthermore, in the later years of his reign, Asa had a disease in his feet. The bible says, 'yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians’ (2 Chronicles 16:12). Bad finish.
What made Asa choose the flesh over God’s help? Did he become complacent, over-confident, presumptuous? Did he not want to make the time to seek God and just take a ‘short-cut’? Did Asa forget that the eyes of the Lord were constantly watching out for those who would cry to him?
When we are whole-heartedly depending on God, we catch his eye and He comes to strengthen and defend. What can you learn from the life of King Asa? Who are you depending on today? It’s one thing to start good; it’s another thing to finish strong.