Taken out by feet!
September 7th, 2011 | Buen Consejo | for https://baptist.org/ |
Where does your help come from? Of whom do you seek deliverance and assistance? What is your support mechanism? Are you sure? Or are you a living a double standard? Read on and see >>
Hebrews 13:6 “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Do you think that you do this? But, do you?
There was a king in Judah many years ago. Asa was his name. He was a pretty good king. 2 Chronicles 15:17b “…nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.” His heart was perfect towards God. But, does that mean that all of his actions were? Did he do some things because he saw the normal way to do things and never questioned it? Let’s see what happened.
2 Chronicles 16:7-13 “And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand.
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 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. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.”
So, Asa had things in his life to deal with. He had seen God do great things for him before. “Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand.” When he relied on the LORD it went well.
Then, he either got cocky, or full of himself or overconfident or something and tried to do it in his own strength. He went to the king of Syria for help rather than to the LORD. So he messed up that situation. Now they would be plagued with wars all the time!
So, Asa did like most and rather than self examine and admit error he got angry and punished the guy who told him the truth. Then he became more mean and bitter and started bullying the people.
Eventually he ran into health problems. “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.” And when he was diseased he still had not learned anything! He went to physicians, not the LORD. Now, physicians, Doctors, are fine to use. Luke 5:31 “And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.” Jesus said if you are sick you need a physician. The point was he went there before and instead of seeking the LORD first.
Do you do like Asa? If you have a problem, do you turn to the first medicine, advisor or human rescuer available? Do you search the internet for information on it? Do you just run to the Doctor? Do you see what your money can buy or your wisdom can conjure up? These things might wind up being used as tools, but first you should seek the face of the Lord.
Lord, Why is this happening? Am I not serving you correctly or enough? Is there something that you want to show me? Is there sin in my life that is causing this? Lord, should I wait or go to a physician now? Is this from my diet, Lord? Is this because I won’t read my Bible? Is this because….?
Proverbs 3:5, 6 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Don’t know how to fix your plumbing? Pray about it first. Don’t just grab the first self help book before talking to the Lord about it. Don’t understand scriptures? Pray, read more, fast and pray, before you just grab a commentary or book and copy off of someone else’s homework.
Imagine Mr. Dad and his son M’ijo. Dad says, “Let’s build a dog house out back. Mom said something about you being in it anyway.” They gather wood and nails, saw and tools and go out back. They begin to work and after a while Dad says, Ok, M’ijo we are stuck here. Tell me son, how do we get the square fittings of equal lengths?” Ring, ring… “Phone honey!”, Yells Mom from in the house. “Be right back, M’ijo”, “Ok, Dad.”
An hour later Dad comes back and finds the dog house complete. “What happened son?” “Dad, you’ll be so proud! I called my big brother and then my friends came over with their tools and one brought his dad. We cranked that thing out within the hour!” Mr. Dad bowed his head and a tear came to his eye. “Dad why are you so sad?” He replied, “M’ijo, this was not about getting the dog house erected. This was about you and me, doing this together, learning about your dear ole Dad by working through things with me. I hate this dog house, though humanly, it’s perfect. I hate it!”
Walk with God, not perform tasks to impress him or get it done some other way.
