ROOTED - Saturday, March 28, 2026

2 Chronicles 16:7, 9, 12

7 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

9 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…

12 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. 

Reflection: Faith and Proactive Self-Reliance

Written By:
Pastor Jesse Caro

Note that I have skipped to tomorrow’s reading in order to write
about the story of Asa.

Asa was a great King. 2 Chronicles devotes multiple chapters
describing how his dedication to God was blessed of God, unlike so many other
kings. And yet, the end of his life is a bit confusing to me. It appeared as
though an army was assembling against Asa, so he sought to enlist the help of
the king of Syria… a king with whom he had previously built an alliance. This
is something that we have read other kings do many times. And yet for Asa it
appears that God took his actions as a lack of faith… “he “did not rely on the
Lord….” For me, reading this story, this action seems like prudent wisdom, not
a lack of faith. A few verses later we read that Asa had a disease in his feet,
and he sought the help of physicians rather than the Lord. Once more, we are instructed
that this lack of reliance on God would cause consequences… in this case, Asa
would die.

Often the Bible will challenge our view of things. Here the Bible
is challenging my sense of justice in that Asa is judged harshly for something
other kings had done… and been blessed for. To be honest, I find no way to make
sense of this disparity. I am simply left to accept that God knows that, in
this case, His judgments are true, right, and just. Furthermore, if I am to be
reminded of a biblical truth, we need only to focus on the verses between these
two stories. The scriptures say, “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.” Asa’s heart was clearly not blameless to God, in
ways hidden to us as readers. But I know this: I want to have a heart blameless
to God. I want to rely on God first in all areas of my life, including, for
example, my health. It seems wise to go to the doctor, for example… but not if
we are relying on doctors more than God. Now, even as I type those last words,
I recognize that I do not rely on God with my health as this text encourages me
to. Far from it. Evidently not many people do… making it necessary for the
Lord’s eyes to be seeking for people who do. I want to be that kind of person,
even if it is exceptionally rare.

Prayer

Lord, may we be in the rare of company of people who rely on you
extraordinarily in a way that is uncommon among God’s people.