Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Danger of Self-Reliance | The Writings | 2 Chronicles 14-16

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

Are you overconfident? How quick are you to turn to God when things are hard? What about when things are good? Patrick uses 2 Chronicles 14-16 to warn against self-reliance and encourage you toward a God-reliance. Sign up here to receive the "Our Good King" Holy Week Devotional beginning on Palm Sunday, March 23rd, 2024. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Chronicles 14-16

Welcome to 10 minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. My son can barely reach the water spigot in our refrigerator. At first, I thought that this was great because he could get his own water, and that would save me tons of time walking from place to place every single time that he was thirsty. That's the upside. But there is a downside.

The downside is that he can't see when the cup is full. And so overflows aren't that uncommon. It means that even though he doesn't need me to fill his cup, I still have to walk there every single time he fills it up so that I can let him know when the cup is full so that he doesn't overflow it and pour it on top of himself. If you're a parent, nothing about what I'm saying is surprising. Even at their most independent, children really are dependent. They need help. I've often wondered if this is something of what the Bible intends for us to think about when it challenges us to call God our father. It's not merely that we're a person. It's not merely that we're

a part of his covenantal family and that we've taken on his covenantal family name and that we've been invited into the covenantal family business. It's also that we're a lot like four-year-olds in his presence. Often we're overconfident about what we can do and we end up overflowing our cups in the process. We're a lot like four-year-olds, even at our most independent, we're still deeply dependent on him. Of course, there's times when my son knows that he needs my help when he's heard or when he's danger when he's scared, he has no problem calling out for his father. And even as adults, the same is true of us with God. When we are hurt, when we are in danger, when we are scared. Well, those are precisely the moments when we are more aware of our need for our father. We need his help. We need him to show up.

We need him to be present with us. Second Chronicles, chapters 14 to 16, tell the story of King Asa, a king who sought after Yahweh, and he tore down the idols in Judah. He reestablished the covenant with God and he radically trusted God when he was in danger like a good four-year-old should. But this story doesn't whitewash King Asa's story because his story is kind of the tale of two different kings. You see, in one life, in his early life, he's like that four-year-old who knows that he needs help. But in his later life, he's like an overconfident four-year-old. He has no idea how much help he needs and so he doesn't ask for it and that ends up getting him into trouble. You see, early in his reign, Asa faced a tremendous threat, a threat that

could have permanently ended his kingdom. Let's pick this up in Second Chronicles 14, verse 9. Zara, the Ethiopian, came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots and came as far as Marisha. Okay, we got to pause for a second. That is a really big army that is now marching up to fight against King Asa in this region called Marisha. I've been there. It's this region of beautiful caves. And I've actually been on the plateau where Asa would have looked out and seen this army of a million people marching towards him. And he's just a tiny little kingdom with maybe a few tens of thousands of soldiers. And so verse 11. And Asa cried out to Yahweh his God. Oh Yahweh, there is none like you to help between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Yahweh, our God, for we now rely on

you and in your name we have come against this multitude. Oh Yahweh, you are. You are are our God, let not man prevail against you. And so Yahweh defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah and the Ethiopians flood. So this invasion of Ethiopians ends up failing, even though they had much stronger numbers, a much more powerful military. And the reason why is because Asa was like a four-year-old who knew that he was in danger and he cried out to his dad, protect me, save me, rescue me. Later, God commended Asa for trusting him, but given the circumstances, what choice did Asa have? He was in danger and he was totally incapable of protecting himself. Of course, there were other choices he could have chosen.

He could have run away and just given the land to the Ethiopians. He could have tried to do it himself and failed. He could have called on some other God. There were other choices, but he does the right thing, the thing that is commendable. He calls out to his father. When Yahweh commends Asa, it comes with a tinge of warning. He doesn't say because you've done this one thing, all will be well in the future. Instead, he calls Asa to a lifetime of childlike trust. We read in Second Chronicles 15, verses 2 to 4,

what a prophet said to Asa. This is God speaking to Asa through the prophet. Hear me, Asa. And all Judah and Benjamin, Yahweh 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 Yahweh, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. And in many ways, Aza takes this message from the prophet to heart. He has a long reign and experiences peace because he's trusting Yahweh throughout that reign. But 36 years into his reign, he ends up growing self-confidence and very wealthy. He was an experienced king at this point, and so he knew how to

deal with problems, and that self-reliance turned out to be poisoned for his faith. Yet another king comes against Asa and tries to fight against him, but instead of trusting God during this war, Asa sends a big bag of cash to a pagan enemy, the king of Syria, and he asks the king of Syria to help him in this battle. Afterward, yet another prophet comes to Asa and says this, 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 Yahweh, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of Yahweh run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support

to those whose heart is blameless towards him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars. Then Asa was angry with the prophet and put him in the stocks. in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this, and Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time. So in the end, Asa not only ignores the prophet, but puts him in prison for speaking the truth. He oppresses the people, and in a very short period of time, he goes from being a just king who pursued Yahweh to a corrupt king, who trusted himself. He later died of a fever, and even on his deathbed, he never asked Yahweh for help. This text doesn't explicitly tell us what happened between his youth and his old age,

but I suspect it implies something subtle, because what we know of this period is that Issa grew wealthy. His kingdom flourished. He had success. And as many of these stories from Chronicles teach us such experiences of wealth and success and things going well, well, they'll either make us grateful or proud. God reliance or self-reliant. What do your successes do to you? Do you need danger and fear in your life to turn to God? Or have you learned how to turn to God in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness, and in health?

Your Heavenly Father is not a helicopter parent who wants to do everything for you, but he does patiently wait with you by the refrigerator to help you make sure you don't overflow your cup or put too little water in. See, on the surface, someone who relies on God and someone who doesn't rely on God may look the same. they may do many similar things, but the question is whether those things are done with a supernatural presence and power, or are they done by means of self-reliance? This kind of power cannot be present apart from a simple discipline. Prayer. Preferably consistent prayer throughout the day. I practice a daily ritual of praying in the morning, in the midday, and in the evening. I do this. Usually I pray through one or two Psalms at any given time. I wouldn't say that anything magical happens,

praying throughout the day in the morning, in the midday, and before you go to sleep, but I do become more aware of my father's presence. I do find myself praying for what has happened and what will happen. And in doing this, I am protected from my own sense of self-reliance. Not perfectly, but far more than I would be with only one prayer, and certainly would be without any prayer at all. Could you instill a similar habit in your life, to make sure that you can trust God in the best and the worst of times, I want you to rely on him like a child, and he will bless you with his shalom, his joy, and his presence on every side.