Asa

THEME: Failing to finish the race.

LESSON: The Christian life is a race. Let us run it to the finish.

KEY VERSE: "The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you""(2 Chr. 15:2).

VERSE TO REMEMBER: "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain" (1 Cor. 9:24).

TRACK RECORD: Asa spent the first 35 years of his 41-year reign doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord (1 Ki. 15:11). However, in the 36th year, the king suffered a lapse of faith, which robbed him of his fellowship with the Lord. Asa, who through God's help had conquered all his enemies, was attacked by King Baasha of Israel. However, instead of calling upon the Lord for help, Asa entered into a treaty with Ben-hadad, king of Syria. Asa won a military victory by siding with Ben-hadad. However, his spurning of God cost him much more. "Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God… Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars" (2 Chr. 16:7,9).

From that time forth, Asa turned against God and even went so far as to oppress his own people. He then contracted a painful disease in his feet and still did not seek the Lord. Tragically, after following the Lord for most of his life, Asa died in misery because his heart turned cold in his old age.

APPLICATION: As Christians, we must daily confess our love for our Savior and guard vehemently against the hardening of our hearts.

SPIRITUAL EPITAPH: "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" (2 Chr. 16:12).