Good Morning!

Friday the 13th. Does that mean anything anymore? For believers, it shouldn’t. It’s superstition. Still, it’s easy to forget. From time to time I hear believers talking about their astrological sign or numbers. Heck, I even talk about being “lucky” now and then. Old habits die hard, but it’s best if they die.

The other day we talked about the joy of the Lord and mentioned King Asa. It’s worth taking a peek at this king of Judah. Asa was notable because he brought the nation back to worshipping God. In fact, the whole nation, man, woman, and child, was to seek the Lord. Any who didn’t were put to death. Here’s an excerpt:

2 Chronicles 15:14-15 They swore and oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpet and with horns. And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.

All went well with King Asa for 35 years of his reign until he made a covenant with the king of Syria to war against the king of Israel. God then sent the seer Hanani to pay a visit. Hanani reminded Asa that indeed God delivered him from other huge armies simply because he, Asa, asked. It was in this conversation that we were given this familiar verse:

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

Hanani then foretold that Asa would have war from now on. Asa then imprisoned the seer for this bad news and furthermore was cruel to some of his people because of it. His story ends like this, “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease, he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians.” Two years later he was dead.

What a tragedy this was. My hope is that my faith in God will increase exponentially year by year until I stand before Jesus. I can’t imagine what it would be like to end like Asa or how many kings that once did right by the Lord only to fall away. Yes, I understand that things are different now because believers now have the Holy Spirit living inside and that our salvation is secure. Still, I know Christians who were once vibrant but have cooled considerably. I once had a baseball signed by Gary Gaetti of the Minnesota Twins (1987 World Series era). He became a vocal follower of Jesus while with the Twins, much to the chagrin of Kent Hrbek and others in the clubhouse. At that signing at a St. Cloud River Bats game, I asked him if he was still on fire for Jesus. He looked at me, shook his head, and said, “No, not like I was.” He then leaned back in his chair and quoted John 14:6.

I hope I don’t ever answer that question like Gary did. Is Gary saved? I would think so. Is he finishing strong? I don’t know about today. Certainly, he had cooled back then. I really hope that doesn’t happened to me.

Father, keep me strong and make me stronger in my faith every day. Remind me continually of my need for you and let me seek you in all my affairs. Make me crazy for you! Amen

Copyright © 2017 Scott Powers