A King and His Feet

Chapter 16, really we'll be in chapters 14 through

16. But we'll start in chapter 16, verse 11.

2 Chronicles, that's in the Old Testament. 1

and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles kind of cover

the same material. They talk about the different

kings of Israel and Judah. By the time we get

just a little ways into Kings and Chronicles,

we see that things are not good, that the nation

of Israel has been split into two. The two groups

are referred to as Judah and Israel. Judah was

comprised of the tribe of Judah, and Benjamin

and Israel were the other ten tribes. And Israel

never had a good king. You go back and you read,

all of their kings were bad. Not a single one

of them were good. Judah had a few good kings,

and one of the good kings that they had was King

Asa, and that's who we're going to talk about

today. I'm sure you all probably know all about

King Asa. And if you don't, then good news, we're

going to learn about him today. We don't know

much about him. There's very little said about

him in 2 Chronicles, and even less than that

in Kings when it talks about him. But even in

a story like this, maybe there's some... a little

something we can take from this story today so

let's read through these verses then we'll pray

and we'll get started second chronicles chapter

2 Chronicles 16:11

16 verse 11. note that the events of asa's reign

from beginning to end are written in the book

of the kings of judah and israel in the 39th

year of his reign Asa developed a disease in

his feet, and his disease became increasingly

severe. Yet even in his disease, he did not seek

the Lord, but only the physicians. Let's pray.

God, we come to you this morning. We thank you

for your good word, and I pray, God, that your

Holy Spirit would be with us this morning. I

pray that you would help us to... Be free of

the worries and the distractions and the thoughts

of the world, dear Lord, that are competing for

our attention now. I pray, God, that your Holy

Spirit would just give us a sense of peace today,

that we would listen to you, that you would open

our ears and open our heart, dear Lord. I pray,

God, that we would hear these words today, that

we would be a people who would seek you this

morning, dear Lord. I pray that you would take

away any pride or fear that's within me, dear

Lord, that any word that comes from my mouth

today would be for you and for your glory. So

I pray, God, that in these few minutes that you

would just meet us where we are, dear Lord, and

help us to be a people who would seek you and

trust you. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen. Now

some of you may be saying, what in the world

does King Asa and his feet have to do with anything?

Well, there's a little more to the story as we

see the story of King Asa unfold. Now, you can

go back this week and read in more detail the

whole story. It's very short, but we see a change

in Asa's life and a change in his people's life

as the story progresses by the time we get to

the verse that we see. Now, King Asa had reigned

for a long time, 41 years, one of the longest

reigning kings in Judah. And he certainly was

a godly man. He was a man who feared the Lord

and a man who did what was right up until right

here at the end we see a little blemish that

is attributed to him. Now if we turn back to

2 Chronicles chapter 14, we see that Asa is about

2 Chronicles 14 · chapter mention

to... go into battle with the Kushites. The people

of Kush are coming against his people, and they're

outnumbered almost two to one. It's almost twice

as many of them. And so they are in big trouble.

How are Asa and his soldiers going to be able

to defeat the Kushites? Well, they're probably

not going to be able to based on human strength

alone. So look at what Asa does in 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 14:11

14, verse 11. 2 Chronicles 14, verse 11. Then

2 Chronicles 14:11

Asa cried out to the Lord his God, Lord, there

is no one besides you to help the mighty and

those without strength. Help us, Lord our God,

for we depend on you. In your name we have come

against this large army. Yahweh, you are our

God. Do not let a mere mortal hinder you. So

the Lord routed the Cushites before Asa and before

Judah, and the Cushites fled. So here we see

earlier on in Asa's reign as king, he was in

a bad situation. He was up against a situation

that was really unwinnable. He did not have much

hope. He did not have enough strength to be able

to defeat the enemy army, and his only hope was

to seek the Lord. And that's exactly what he

did. When everything was looking like it was

stacked against him, when there was no way for

him to win, when there was no way for him to

be delivered, he did the one thing that you and

I need to do. Perhaps we've done that. at some

point in our life. Perhaps we've done that at

many points in our life. That we acknowledge

that we are in a bad situation. That we acknowledge

that whatever we are up against is too hard on

us. It's too hard for us to take on our own strength.

And Asa acknowledges that. He says, God, I...

do not have the strength. But Lord, would you

hear my prayer? Would you hear my cry? God, would

you help us? And guess what God did? As so many

times in Scripture we see, God is with his people,

and even when they are outnumbered and overmanned

in every way, we see it time and time again that

when God's people will seek God, That God will

come to their aid and God will deliver them.

That there is nothing that is too big for God.

Now there are things that are too big for you

this morning. There are things in your life just

like what Asa was facing. Maybe you're not up

against an enemy army, but there are things in

your life that are too heavy for you right now.

Tragedies that have occurred in your life, health

problems that have occurred in your life, trouble

at work, whatever it is, there are things in

our life that are too hard for us and they are

too big for us, and we do not have the strength.

But they are not too big for God this morning.

They are not too big for God. Whatever you are

up against, God has the strength to deliver you.

God has the strength to walk with you through

this if you would just seek the Lord. And Asa,

being a good king and a godly man, he did the

right thing. He called out to God, and God delivered

him. God delivered his people. And this brought

about a bit of a revival amongst God's people.

Now, this is a theme that we see throughout the

Old Testament among God's people. They'll live

in sin or they'll get theirself into trouble.

And then it's almost as though it's a last resort.

Like, oh, we tried everything else. Let's call

out to God and maybe he can help. And shocker.

When people finally decide to turn to God, God

always helps if they genuinely and earnestly

seek him. And so they had this big deliverance,

this big win that God had blessed them with,

and so this gets the people on fire. So these

people begin to really seek the Lord, and we

see that when we flip to 2 Chronicles chapter

2 Chronicles 15 · chapter mention

15. 2 Chronicles chapter 15, verses 1 through

2 Chronicles 15:1–4

4. Listen to what these verses say. The Spirit

of God came on Azariah, son of Obed. So he went

out to meet Asa and said to him, Asa and all

Judah and Benjamin, hear me. The Lord is with

you when you are with him. If you seek him, he

will be found by you. But if you abandon him,

he will abandon you. For many years Israel has

been without the true God, without a teaching

priest, and without instruction. But when they

turned to the Lord God of Israel and their distress

and sought him, he was found by them. So this

guy comes to Asa and says, look, this is what

the Lord says. This is what the Lord wants you

to know. If you will seek me, you will be delivered.

If you will seek me, I will be with you. But

if you don't seek me, if you abandon me, then

you'll be abandoned. Now, there is nothing in

this world that we can do apart from the Lord.

We can try our best, and we can make it a little

ways, and we can think we're doing pretty good,

but if it has not already occurred to you, it

is going to occur. At some point in your life,

you're going to be overwhelmed. It's going to

be too much. There's going to be something you

go through that you cannot make it another step,

that you cannot go another day, that you are

ready to give up. And it's in those days that

even in a little story like this, a little story

that we may have read and passed over many times

and not thought of it, it's little stories like

this that are reminders to us, that are calling

us to remember to seek the Lord. It reminds us

of what happens when we seek the Lord, and it

reminds us of what happens when we abandon the

Lord. And that's what he says here. Look, if

you seek the Lord, he'll be with you, but if

you abandon the Lord, he'll abandon you. And

if the Lord is not with us, we find ourselves

in trouble. And he even gives an example. He

said, look, when Israel would seek God, things

would be good, but when they wouldn't, things

would be bad. And what does it say at the end

of the verse here? It says in verse 4, But when

they turned to the Lord their God of Israel in

their distress and sought him, he was found by

them. Here's this idea. There's this theme that

we see in this short little story of Asa. And

the theme is to seek God. When Asa was up against

the Cushites, he sought God. Here we see that

Asa and the people are called to seek God. They

are given an example of Israel, that when they

would seek God, he was with them. And so we're

starting to see a theme in the life of Asa and

in the life of the people. And it's a good theme.

It's a theme that starts at the beginning of

the story. Asa sought God. All right, everybody's

excited about the Lord. There's a bit of a revival.

And now the people are going to seek God. Let's

read a little further in 2 Chronicles 15, verse

2 Chronicles 15:12

12. Then they entered into a covenant to seek

the Lord God of their ancestors with all their

mind and all their heart. That pretty much sums

it up. Even Jesus says something similar. What

is the most important thing for us? It is to

seek the Lord our God with all our heart, our

mind, our soul, and strength. It's to love him.

Jesus said, and to love our neighbor, this same

idea we see repeated even in the New Testament,

even among Jesus. And when the people hear this

word, when the people hear this command, this

call to seek God, what do they do? They receive

it excitedly. And they said, look, we are going

to seek God. We make a covenant now that we will

be a people who seek the Lord. Things are going

good. as they often do when we seek the Lord.

If you ever made a decision in your life where

you didn't seek the Lord, oftentimes those things

fail. But I can just about guarantee you that

every time that you have earnestly and genuinely

sought the Lord and listened to what he told

you, not just seek him and he tells you what

you don't want to hear, sometimes that happens

too. You ask him about something, he don't tell

you what you want to hear, and you kind of go

your own way. Those situations always end bad.

But when we earnestly and genuinely seek God

with all of our heart and listen to him, those

situations always turn out for the better. They

always turn out to the good because God knows

better than we know. And we think we know. We

want to do things our way. We want to seek our

own will. But if we really want to find peace

and success, And joy in our life, that comes

when we seek the will of God, when we seek him

for help, when we seek him for our strength,

when we're not trusting in the world or in our

abilities and the things that we know and the

things that we can do. We're not trusting in

other people around us, but we are seeking God

and trusting him. And Asa had done that. And

here we see God's people had done that. Let's

continue on a little further. 2 Chronicles chapter

2 Chronicles 15:15

15, verse 15. All Judah rejoiced over the oath,

for they had sworn it with all their mind. They

had sought him with all their heart, and he was

found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on

every side. Everything's going great. Maybe that's

the case for some of us today. Maybe we seek

the Lord. Maybe we've been seeking the Lord for

years. Maybe we listen to what he's saying. Maybe

we trust him. Maybe we know he's our strength.

Maybe we know that he is our deliverer. But we

need to be reminded of stories like these, that

we need to seek the Lord. You say, well, I'm

doing good today. Well, praise the Lord. You're

doing good today. There are seasons in our life

where we do good. But we need even little stories

like this to remind us to continue to seek the

Lord. And now we arrive back at the verse that

we started at. King Asa is looked at as a good

king. He sought the Lord's help. The Lord delivered

him. He led the people right. They listened to

God's command. They were excited. They said,

we're going to seek God. God's going to be with

us. God took care of them. God gave them peace.

God gave them rest on every side. All was good

when they would seek God. And then we get to

chapter 16. where it says the verses we started

at. In verse 12, chapter 16, verse 12. In the

39th year of his reign, Asa developed a disease

in his feet, and his disease became increasingly

severe. Yet even in his disease, he did not seek

the Lord, but only the physicians. He didn't

seek the Lord. Now this is a man who knew what

it meant to seek the Lord. This is a man who

had sought the Lord and the Lord had been with

him and delivered him. This is a man who led

his people into seeking the Lord. And yet at

the end of his reign, he got a foot disease and

he did not seek the Lord. Instead, it says that

he trusted in the physicians. Now you go back

and read a few verses before, there's another

part to the story as well. That there was a king

who was coming against him. There was a king

who was coming against Asa. Now you would think

that Asa would say, Hey, not worried about this.

I've been here before. I'm not worried about

a king who's going to come against me. I'm not

worried about another army. I'm going to call

out to God because God has delivered me greatly.

But do you know what Asa does in the story a

few verses before this? When the enemy is coming

against him, He goes and seeks another king for

help. He doesn't seek the Lord. It's as if somehow

he's forgotten. It's as if somehow he's forgotten

that it's the Lord who delivers him. It's the

Lord who has strengthened him. It's the Lord

who had given them rest. And if Asa would have

called out to the Lord against the other army,

guess what? God would have delivered them, I

would imagine. But Asa didn't do that. We see

Asa started out so good, but at some point in

the story, something changed. I don't know what

changed. He started off seeking the Lord, and

then he began to trust in other people. He began

to trust in another king to save him. He began

to trust in the physicians to save him. But what

he should have been doing was seeking the Lord

in everything that he did. So what about you

and I? Maybe we are not so unlike Asa today.

Maybe there are some of us today who have experienced

the power of God. Maybe we started doing well.

Maybe we have sought God and we have trusted

in God and we have seen God work and we have

experienced God's peace and we've experienced

God's deliverance, but maybe somewhere along

the way for us today, we are at a point in our

life as we sit on these pews that there's something

in our life going on and we need to be reminded

to seek God. You may have read the scripture,

you may know you need to seek God, but maybe

today you need to be reminded it's a constant

struggle. Our life is full of struggle from the

time we are born to the time that we die, and

we need to be reminded constantly that there

is no hope but God. There is no deliverer but

God. And somewhere along the way, Asa forgot

that. I'm not saying Asa was an evil, evil man.

I'm just saying that there were times in his

life that he should have been trusting in God,

and he was trusting in man. And maybe that's

the case for some of us today. Who would have

thought that a story about a king with some nasty

feet would have any bearing on us today? But

yet even a story like this reminds us that we

need to seek the Lord, that we don't fall into

that same trap. What about you and I today? Is

there anything in your life today, and maybe

you know God and you know God's Word, but maybe

you just haven't been seeking Him. Maybe today

the Lord wants you to call on Him. Maybe today

the Lord wants to give you some peace and to

give you some deliverance. He just wants you

to seek Him with all of your heart. He just wants

you to come to Him and ask. He just wants you

to come to Him and say, Look, Lord, my strength

is weak. Lord, I cannot do it. But God, I see

time and time again where you are with your people

and you hear their cries and you hear their call.

And God, I pray today that you would just listen

to me, that you would come to me, that you would

deliver me. And I promise you that if you would

seek God today, he would hear your prayers and

he would be with you. I can't promise you that

he's going to make everything in your life better

or that he'll make your situation go away. But

I can promise you that he's going to be with

you. I can promise you that he's going to give

you peace beyond understanding. I can promise

you that He's going to give you strength, and

He may even very well deliver you from whatever

it is, but you have to seek Him, and you have

to call out to Him. Jesus says the same thing

in the New Testament. Seek ye first the kingdom

of God. What a powerful statement. This is exactly

what Asa was doing. This is what the people of

God were doing in this story. But somewhere along

the way, they lost their way. Somewhere along

the way, they lost their way. And maybe that's

the story for you and I today. Maybe for some

of us today, somewhere along the way, we have

lost our way. We have started living for ourselves.

We have not been seeking the Lord's instructions

and His guidance and His help. Maybe today you

need to seek first the kingdom of God. Did you

say, God, I'm not going to live for myself and

my own desires, but God, I want to live for your

kingdom. God, I'm broken. God, this sin has got

the best of me. God, this situation I'm in has

gotten the best of me. God, I am heartbroken.

Whatever it is, whatever our circumstance it

is, we need to go to God and say, God, I'm not

in a good place. I'm not where I want to be.

God, I need you. So God, today I come to you

and I seek you. And God hears those prayers.

And we need to be those today who seek God for

the forgiveness of our sins. That we enter into

the kingdom of God. That entrance only comes

through Jesus Christ. Our healing only comes

through Jesus Christ. Our healing of our sin,

our healing of our sickness, whatever healing

comes in our life, it only comes through Jesus

Christ. Whatever deliverance we receive in our

life, it only comes through the power of Jesus

Christ. But we must be those who seek the Lord.

So let us not fall into the trap of Asa. That

after walking so good, we begin to trust in ourselves

and trust in... other people for our deliverance.

Let us be those today who trust in the Lord and

the Lord alone. Let us seek him today with all

of our heart. Let's pray. God, we come to you

today. We thank you for this simple short story

of Asa and what a beautiful reminder of your

mercy and your grace and your deliverance, dear

Lord. that if we would just cry out to you and

call out to you and seek you, dear Lord, you

are faithful to hear and to deliver us today,

to give us the strength in our weakness, God.

God, I pray that we would have the same response

as Asa's people did, that we would rejoice at

hearing your word. We would rejoice at seeing

your power, both in this story and in so many

others in Scripture, dear Lord, that we would

be those who would seek you with all of our heart

and all of our mind, that we would rejoice in

you, dear Lord, today. And God, I pray that you

help us to be alert because we are humans and

we get so caught up in the things of the world

and doing things our way, dear Lord, that sometimes,

even though if we know you, dear Lord, we just

kind of forget to call out to you, God. So may

this story be a reminder for us today, dear Lord.

If there are any in this room that have not been

seeking you, that maybe today that they would

seek you first. That you would remind us from

this point forward, dear Lord, to always seek

you first. God, I pray that if there are any

in this room that do not know Jesus Christ as

their Lord and Savior this morning, that they

would seek him today. God, maybe they've been

seeking him and they don't even know it, dear

Lord. Maybe they've been seeking peace and forgiveness

and love and grace in their life and they just

don't know where that comes from. But dear Lord,

I pray today that they know that that will only

be found in Jesus Christ. So I pray, God, that

they would seek Him with all of their heart and

all of their mind today, that they would repent

of their sinfulness and put their faith and trust

in Jesus. God, maybe there are some in here today,

and they're yours, and they've trusted you in

the past, and they know your goodness, and for

whatever reason, dear Lord, they've just started

trusting in their own abilities. They've started

trusting in other people. They've started trusting

in other things for their deliverance today.

God, I pray that you would forgive us if we've

done that. And I pray that today that we would

once again seek you. God, you know these people.

You know their hearts. You know their situations.

God, you know everybody's, they're going through

something, dear Lord. We just have a lot going

on in our lives. So I pray, God, whatever folks

have going on today, dear Lord, that in these

moments that they would seek you. that they would

give it to you, dear Lord. I pray that you would

just give them some peace this morning. I pray

that you'd give them some strength this morning.

I pray that you'd give them some encouragement

this morning, God, to know that whatever they

are up against, they are not alone, that you

are with them. If we would only cry out to you

today, if we would only seek you today. So I

pray that we would. And I ask these things in

Jesus' name. Amen.