Asa / 2 Chronicles 14-16
It is so good to be here with you tonight. As we look around the room, we have a lot of different people here from a lot of different places. But when it comes to the posture of our hearts before God, generally speaking, there are probably two broad groups.
One group looks over their life in the last year or so and would say that even with some ups and downs, their heart is moving in a direction where they are drawing closer to God. Your heart is becoming more and more His. There is an increasing softness and tenderness to the things of God, more openness to Him, greater devotion, and a deeper experience of His grace.
For others of us, we might look back over the last couple of years and say, “My heart is actually becoming a little more distant from God.” An increasing hardness, less openness, or even a bit of bitterness has crept in toward God. Our hearts are either drawing closer to God or drifting further away.
Tonight, we are going to speak to both situations as we look at King Asa in week three of our series on the kings of Israel. His story is found in 2 Chronicles 14–16.
The Devoted Heart of King Asa
A little background before we jump in: King Asa reigned in the Southern Kingdom of Judah from Jerusalem. He was a direct descendant—the great-great-grandson—of King David. Asa was on the throne for about forty-one years, from roughly 911 BC to 870 BC. To give you an idea of the instability in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during that era, they had six different kings while Asa was the sole king in Judah.
Most of Asa’s life was characterized by a heart devoted to God—what the Hebrew calls lebab shalem, a wholehearted devotion. There is an often-quoted verse from Asa’s life in 2 Chronicles 16:
2 Chronicles 16:9 (NASB)
‘For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.’
Think about that phrase: the Lord looks to strongly support those whose hearts are completely His. Is that something you want for your life? When I consider my family, my calling to love and lead them, my responsibilities as a father, a husband, and a pastor, the daily challenge to live for God’s glory, the temptations, the spiritual warfare, and this crazy world we live in, I say, “Lord, I desperately need and want Your strong support.” And I know you do, too.
Biblically, the heart defines the inner self—the core of who we are. It includes our emotions, our intellect, our conscience, our will, our appetites, and our decisions. Through Asa’s life, we see what a healthy, devoted heart looks like, but we also see the warning signs of a heart that begins to harden.
Let’s start by looking at six health signs of a heart devoted to God.
Signs of a Healthy Heart
2 Chronicles 14:1-4 (NASB)
So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and his son Asa became king in his place. The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days. Asa did good and right in the sight of the LORD his God, for he removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the [sacred] pillars, cut down the Asherim, and commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandment.
1. Identifying and Opposing False Gods
The first health sign of a devoted heart is identifying and opposing the false gods in our lives. When Asa became king, he saw idol worship everywhere. He identified the high places—hills where altars were erected to Baal and other false gods—and he cut down the Asherah poles, which were associated with fertility rituals and sacred prostitution. Asa recognized his responsibility to remove these false gods from the land.
We might think, “Well, I don’t have any Asherah poles in my front yard or high places in my backyard, so I must be good.” But are we really free of idols today? Years ago, I met an Egyptian Coptic Christian who had recently moved here. I asked him what it was like being a Christian in Egypt, and he said it was tough to find work, but added, “A lot of the Muslims there aren’t very serious; they just do it for societal standing.” Then he looked at me and said, “Before I moved here, I heard America was a Christian nation. But I’ll tell you what the god of this nation really is: it’s sex.”
In his book Gods at War, Kyle Idleman notes that our idols often lack religious trappings and aren’t inherently evil things. Pleasure, money, career, family, even worthy causes like feeding the hungry are good things. The problem arises the instant something takes the place of God—the moment a good thing becomes an ultimate thing. When someone or something replaces the Lord in the position of supreme glory, that thing has become an idol.
We can begin identifying our idols by asking why we relentlessly pursue certain things. Why do I obsess over what people think? Why do I get so angry, depressed, or defensive? Why do I go on a shopping spree when I’m already drowning in debt? When we ask God to reveal the “why,” we invite Him to do heart-level work rather than mere behavior modification.
2. A Desire to Grow and Help Others Grow
The second health sign, found in verse 4, is a desire to grow in our relationship with God and to help others do the same. Asa didn’t treat his faith as an isolated personal project; he commanded Judah to seek the Lord.
While we may not be kings issuing royal decrees, each of us has influence in someone’s life. A heart growing in devotion desires personal spiritual growth—in the Word, in worship, and in service—while also desiring communal sanctification. We link arms with others, saying, “Let’s grow in Christlikeness together.”
3. Total Dependence on God in Crisis
In verses 5 through 8, Asa fortifies Judah’s defenses during ten years of peace. Then, crisis arrives.
2 Chronicles 14:9-12 (NASB)
Now Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and he came to Mareshah. So Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, ‘LORD, there is no one besides You to help [in the battle] between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.’ So the LORD routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
Zerah the Ethiopian marched against Judah with an army of one million men and three hundred chariots. Asa had prepared an army of 580,000 men, but facing an army of a million, he was vastly outnumbered.
Look at Asa’s prayer: “Lord, there is no one besides you to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength.” This gives us our third health sign: recognizing our total dependence on God in the midst of crisis. Asa had planned and trained his soldiers, but he knew that without divine intervention, they stood no chance.
Jesus described this posture in John 15: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” The heart devoted to God understands that the ultimate battles of life belong to the Lord. When adverse circumstances come your way, do you lean on your own strength, or do you turn to God in total dependence?
4. Eagerness to Receive God’s Word and Godly Counsel
Following this miraculous victory, God sent a prophet to Asa.
2 Chronicles 15:1-2 (NASB)
Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, ’Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
2 Chronicles 15:7-8 (NASB)
‘But you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work.’ Now when Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD which was in front of the porch of the LORD.
The fourth sign of a healthy heart is an eagerness to receive and respond to God’s Word and godly counsel. Asa heard the prophet Azariah, took courage, and launched a second wave of reforms, removing remaining idols and restoring the altar of the Lord.
As James 1:22 commands, Asa was a doer of the Word, not merely a hearer. When you open the Scriptures in the morning, or gather with your life group, or hear teaching at church, do you have an eager heart that expects the Holy Spirit to speak, and are you ready to obey what He says?
5. God’s Work Being Evident to Others
2 Chronicles 15:9 (NASB)
He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
The fifth sign is that others can clearly see God at work in our lives. People from the northern tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon saw that the Lord was with Asa, and they defected from their own idolatrous kingdom to join Judah in seeking God.
When a heart belongs to the Lord, it cannot be hidden. Others are inspired, encouraged, and drawn toward God because they see His tangible grace operating in your life.
6. Willingness to Make Kingdom Sacrifices
2 Chronicles 15:16 (NASB)
He also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from the [position of] queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah, and Asa cut down her horrid image, crushed [it] and burned [it] at the brook Kidron.
The sixth sign is a willingness to make costly sacrifices for the kingdom of God. The people sacrificed thousands of animals, and Asa dedicated royal treasures to the temple. But his most costly sacrifice was personal: he removed his own mother, Maakah, from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene Asherah pole, and he crushed her idol in the Kidron Valley.
I struggled with rebellion when I was younger, but one thing I knew was: you don’t mess with mama! I still respect and fear my mom today. For Asa to confront his mother, remove her title, and destroy her idol required tremendous courage. A devoted heart places obedience to God above even the most treasured earthly relationships and comforts.
The Danger of a Hardening Heart
We celebrate these signs of spiritual health, but Asa’s life also provides a sobering warning. His reign is like a trilogy: Episode One (ten years of peace and reliance on God), Episode Two (twenty-five years of peace and spiritual reform), and Episode Three—a final, tragic chapter of six years marked by a hardening heart.
2 Chronicles 16:1-3 (NASB)
In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent [anyone] from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, ‘[Let there be] a treaty between you and me, [as] between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.’
When Baasha, the king of Israel, built a fortress at Ramah just six miles north of Jerusalem to blockade Judah, Asa faced another crisis. But instead of crying out to the Lord as he did against the million-man Ethiopian army, Asa took the silver and gold from the Lord’s temple and used it to hire Ben-hadad, the pagan king of Aram, to break his treaty with Israel.
This reveals the first warning sign of a hardened heart: turning to human schemes instead of seeking God’s wisdom in crisis. When life had been peaceful and prosperous for twenty-five years, Asa likely began to coast spiritually. When the crisis hit, turning to God was no longer his instinctive response.
God sent Hanani the seer to confront Asa:
2 Chronicles 16:7-9 (NASB)
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, ’Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand. ’Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. ‘For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.’
Tragically, Asa responded very differently than he had years earlier.
2 Chronicles 16:10 (NASB)
Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him for this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
This highlights two more signs of a hardened heart:
- Rejecting God’s Word and godly counsel: Instead of receiving the rebuke, Asa became enraged and imprisoned the prophet.
- Hurting those around us: Asa began oppressing his own people. When we harden our hearts against God, the people closest to us inevitably suffer the fallout.
Some time ago, my wife, Christine, came to me and said, “Josh, you’ve been snapping a lot lately and seem angry. What’s going on?” Initially, I blew it off. But then I read James 1: “The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Shortly after, I heard a message on anger, and then a friend in my men’s group shared that he was battling anger. At that point, you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to realize God is speaking to you! When my group asked for prayer requests, I had a choice: play it safe, or soften my heart, confess my struggle, and receive godly counsel.
Finally, Asa’s life shows the danger of an ongoing lack of repentance.
2 Chronicles 16:12 (NASB)
In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.
When severe disease struck Asa’s feet, he sought only the physicians and refused to seek the Lord. There is nothing wrong with doctors, but Asa completely bypassed God.
Ongoing repentance is not about regaining lost salvation; it is about keeping our daily relationship with God vibrant and open. When I offend my wife, I ask for her forgiveness so our relationship stays healthy, not because we got divorced and need to remarry five times a day.
1 John 1:9 (NASB)
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
A soft heart quickly confesses sin to God and others; a hard heart insists it is never wrong.
The True King Who Gives a New Heart
Asa’s story reminds us that starting well does not guarantee finishing well. Daily devotion is a decision we make every morning when our feet hit the floor. Yet, Asa’s failures also point us forward to the only perfect King: Jesus Christ.
Where Asa cleared out idols, Jesus cleansed the temple and called us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Where Asa cried out in faith before a million-man army, Jesus faced the cross, bore the sins of the world, and prayed, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” And where Asa ultimately hardened his heart in self-reliance, Jesus knelt in Gethsemane and surrendered completely: “Not my will, but Yours be done.”
Jesus does not just command us to have a devoted heart; He gives us His own heart through the Holy Spirit. He replaces our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. As we go through our lives, let us cry out to Jesus, trusting Him to transform us from the inside out and keep our hearts completely His.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the truth and power of Your Word. You show us the lives of these kings—both their strengths and their weaknesses—so that all glory goes to You. Any hope we have of living with a fully devoted heart comes directly from Your grace. Jesus, make Your heart our heart. Live Your life through us for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.