In my yearlong Bible reading plan, I recently read through 2 Chronicles 14, 15, and 16, which detail the reign of King Asa over the kingdom of Judah. This is what God's Word had to say about Asa:
And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 2 Chronicles 14:2, ESV
That's good, and heartwarming for the reader. After all, Asa is King Rehoboam's grandson (a king who did evil in God's eyes), King Solomon's great-grandson (a king who started out doing good in God's eyes, but pursued women, wealth, and horses, (all things God told him not to do), which led to his downfall by worshiping other gods and ultimately doing evil in the Lord's sight)...
So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. 1 Kings 11:6, ESV
...and the great-great-grandson of King David.
But there's something that concerns me. Although King Asa consulted the Lord regarding what to do regarding one of the neighboring kingdoms trying to invade the kingdom of Judah and gained victory...
And Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah carried away very much spoil. 2 Chronicles 14:11-13, ESV
...he wasn't consistent. He didn't always seek the Lord in every decision, as the below passage shows:
In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king's house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” 2 Chronicles 16:1-3, ESV
Reading this passage from chapter 16, what King Asa did doesn't seem to be too problematic on the surface. He saw a situation and dealt with it as best as he knew how. What's so wrong about that?
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. 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. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” 2 Chronicles 16:7-9, ESV
The problem was that King Asa did not consult the Lord in this situation like he had done previously. Based on what I've read and heard about Hanani the seer, it appears this was a man of God who had brought this word to the king, and that his word was reliable and true. What was Hanani's reward for advising the king? Asa threw him in jail and apparently treated other people horribly at the same time, all from a place of rage. Then...
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. And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. 2 Chronicles 16:12-13, ESV
Clearly, King Asa did not learn his lesson. From what God's Word tells us, the first 35 years of his reign were good, marked by a close walk with God. The last six years, on the other hand, were terrible. Asa trusted in himself and in his abilities, and then when he encountered something he couldn't handle on his own, he sought help only from other humans. Based on Hanani's word, it seems that God wasn't pleased with Asa's actions, and he clearly reaped the consequences of them.
So, what do we make of this? Both Solomon and Asa had God intervene early in their reigns to remind them of the following: (the below passage is what God told Asa)
The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 2 Chronicles 15:1-4, ESV
But somehow Asa was considered to have stayed true to the Lord whereas Solomon strayed. I think what concerns me goes back to my own walk. I do repent when it has been pointed out that I've sinned, and I've repented and asked God forgiveness a lot. But, I've also turned back toward whatever I was doing before. And then repented again. And then turned away again. And... well, you get the idea. I have privately and publicly professed faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but then I go and think and say and do things that go against this professed faith. I'm hoping that the below verse, combined with the fact that Solomon explicitly served other gods in addition to the one true God whereas Asa didn't, will help:
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, Philippians 2:12, ESV
Even though I post devotionals and reflections, today is one of those times I'm glad I am not a pastor. As of this blog post, I don't have answers, except for what Scripture explicitly says. I would say, keep spending time with the God of the Bible, in prayer and in His Word, be real with Him with wherever you're at in life, and let Him be real with you. Start there, and then keep going.