2 Chronicles 16:7-14: a reflection

7At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him, “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped out of your hand. 8Weren’t the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge army, with chariots and exceedingly many horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. 9For the LORD’s eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars.” 10Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. 11Behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet. His disease was exceedingly great; yet in his disease he didn’t seek the LORD, but just the physicians. 13Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14They buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug out for himself in David’s city, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire for him.

Late in his reign, King Asa, who had once trusted God for great victories, makes an alliance with a foreign king instead of relying on God. And the prophet Hanani rebukes him with a line worth engraving on the heart: The eyes of the LORD range throughout the whole earth, to strengthen those whose heart is fully committed to him. God is actively looking, searching the whole earth, for hearts that are wholly his, in order to strengthen them. Asa had failed to be such a heart, and the prophet warns of the cost. Sadly, Asa's decline continues; he rages at the rebuke, imprisons the prophet, and later, even in disease, seeks only physicians and not God.

Notice both the promise and the tragedy. The promise is beautiful: God's eyes range through the whole earth, seeking wholehearted hearts to strengthen. He is not passively waiting; he is actively looking for those fully devoted to him, so that he may show himself strong on their behalf. And the tragedy is Asa's drift: the king who once relied wholly on God slid into self-reliance, resentment of correction, and finally, even in illness, a failure to turn to God at all. A wholehearted heart had grown divided and hard.

Both speak to us. The promise invites us: God is looking for hearts fully committed to him, to strengthen them; be that kind of heart, and know his strengthening. And the tragedy warns us: even a heart that once trusted God can drift into self-reliance, into resenting correction, into seeking every help but God's. Guard against Asa's decline. Keep your heart wholly committed to God, so that his searching eyes find in you one he can strengthen, and do not drift, as Asa did, from trust into self-reliance.

Lord, your eyes range throughout the whole earth to strengthen those whose heart is fully committed to you. Make mine such a heart. And warn me by Asa's tragedy: he who once trusted you wholly drifted into self-reliance, resented correction, and even in illness sought every help but yours. Guard me from that decline. Keep me from a divided, hardened heart, and from turning to every other help before I turn to you. Let your searching eyes find in me one wholly committed to you, whom you delight to strengthen.