ASA AS A VICTOR

We know that prayer is not a vending machine, and that sometimes good people praying right (like Job) still suffer terrible things, at least for a time.

Nevertheless, an overarching story of Scripture and a key biblical principle is one of sowing and reaping. Good people praying right are ultimately heard, good work does receive a reward: there will be a harvest. What we ask for according to the will of God, we do get (1 John 5:14).

We don’t always see the good outcome immediately, or ever (this side of eternity), or in a form that we can understand. But that is not because it does not exist.

“You will reap a harvest,” the New Testament tells us. “Your work is not in vain.” (Galatians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:58)

GOD ANSWERS

Here in 2 Chronicles 14, we get a glorious example of an immediate, dramatic, and obviously positive answer to prayer – one that can encourage us for those times when we have to wait a bit longer or look a bit harder for what God may be doing when we’ve been asking him to move.

In response to Asa’s exemplary prayer, verse 11, which we looked at in our previous reflection, God grants a stupendous victory.

“The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled…they were crushed before the LORD and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder…” (vv. 12-13)

CAUSE AND EFFECT

In case we are in any doubt as to the cause and effect here, in chapter 15 the Lord sent a prophet with a kind of debrief, as if to confirm the lesson objective.

“The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you…be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15:2-7).

Spurred on by these encouraging words, Asa redoubled his efforts in removing detestable idols, repairing the altar of the Lord, assembling God’s people for worship, and deposing his queen mother grandmother Maacah who had made a repulsive Asherah pole.

In all this, he showed that he was “with” God; and true to his word, God was “with” him.

People from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon came over to him from Israel precisely because “they saw that the LORD his God was with him” (v. 9).

Faithfulness attracts the faithful.

It can be tempting to wait for more people before venturing something big, but the way God generally works is by calling individuals to step out in faith, often on their own or in small numbers, before blessing them with a wider company and with obvious results.

In Asa’s case, the fruit was quite remarkable.

REVIVAL

Something like revival broke out – more than just external rebuilding or behaviour reformation.

The people “entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul… They took an oath to the LORD with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side” (vv. 12-15).

(As an aside, a leader with whom I shared the nascent church-based pregnancy support initiative we are about to launch used the word “covenant” to describe how it invites churches to commit seriously and publicly to this life-saving orientation. “Covenant” is not a word I had ever used with regard to this project, but on reflection it is apt. There is something about making promises before God and before people, prayerfully and in accordance with his word: it does us good, God honours it, and people know where they stand and what to expect. Such a public commitment is right at the heart of this initiative we are launching.)

What we read about in 2 Chronicles 14 was no dry, coerced, formal state religion.

This was hearty and real.

Joyous.

God was moving people from the inside out.

Heart change in ourselves and in others is surely the central goal of our own spiritual walk and of all Christian ministry – and yet it is par excellence the one thing we simply cannot effect by our own efforts.

Granted that we depend on God for life and breath and everything else, but there is a sense in which we can, by human effort, rebuild walls, train up an army, tear down idols, repair an altar, call a conference, write a blog – but only God can do what it’s all about in the first place, and the only thing that really matters: heart change.

How this should drive us to prayer – and this is one reason why we are launching a new national prayer initiative together with others (watch this space).

“Unless the LORD…”

Put positively: if the Lord does build the house, then the labourers do not labour in vain! God really does listen to and answer prayer. He does what we could never do.

WHAT KIND OF PRAY-ERS?

But we would also do well to notice the unity between one’s character, one’s deeds, and one’s praying.

When the passage, for example, speaks of “seeking” the Lord – is that referring to prayer specifically? Or is it to an attitude, a posture? Or is it rather about those deeds that are carried out in obedience to God?

I am not sure, but biblically we see a strong thread connecting all of these things.

Our beliefs, our attitude, our motives, our personal conduct, our treatment of others, as well as the way in which we actually pray: all of these things actually have a huge bearing on getting our prayers heard by heaven and answered. (Isaiah 1:10-20; 58:1-12; Matthew 6:7; 1 John 3:22; James 4:4; James 5:16; Proverbs 21:13; 28:9; 1 Peter 3:7-12; 2 Chronicles 7:14...)

We could put it this way, and I think this fits with the thought of 2 Chronicles 15:

Why would God listen to us if we won’t listen to him?

But again perhaps it would be better to put that positively, and to hear it as an encouragement, for that is the emphasis of this passage: When we do listen to God, when we seek him with all our heart and soul, he listens to us, he does grant our requests, he brings us “rest on every side”.

For this reason I am especially excited about the dynamic relationship between the two ventures we are launching imminently – one, a fresh vision for church-based pregnancy support, saving lives and sharing the gospel through local churches across the country; the other, a national prayer campaign, interceding monthly until the end of abortion.

Attempting great things for God (activism), and expecting great things of God (prayer), are not only great endeavours independently of one another (as if they ever could be independent of one another): they actually strengthen one another in a virtuous cycle.

We are working and praying for the end of abortion in our nation, and I am hopeful that we will see this in our lifetime.

Will you join us?

MAKE EVERY EFFORT

Asa was victorious because he trusted in God.

You and I are “more-than-victorious” (hupernikomen – super-Nike – we-more-than-conquer) through Christ who loved us, because we have put our trust in him.

This victory is complete at the Cross. It is finished, our identity is secure, because of what Christ has done on our behalf. It is ours as a gift through faith.

And yet it is also true that some of us actually live out this victory more than others do, and at some points in our lives more than at other points in our lives: victory over sin, over doubt, over error, over the enemy; victory in our kingdom work and in our ministry to others. Some Christians work harder, mature faster, and have more self-control. I’m not saying I’m one of them. Justification is instant; sanctification is by degrees. It is still by grace and it is still through faith, but the truth is that the life and conduct of Christians does vary and oscillate; we are not uniform.

And whilst God is pleased with us, because of Christ – it’s imputed – he is not necessarily always pleased by what we do: “find out what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10).

And so it is that, time and time again, we are commanded in Scripture to make every effort (e.g. 2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Peter 1:5; Philippians 2:12…)

Day by day, we can only expect God to be “with” us in what we do, as he was with Asa, and grant us real success, if we are “with” him and in accordance with his word: in our thinking, attitude, conduct, and praying.

If we are indeed aligned with him in these things, by grace, through faith: what wonderful things we can expect to see God do in and through us...if we keep going, keep praying, and wait for that proper time to come.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm.

Let nothing move you.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,

because you know that

your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58

This is the third of three reflections on 2 Chronicles 14 and 15.

Click here for the first.

Click here for the second.