Total devotion

There are not many things that man can do to “force” the hand of God. As a matter of fact, one would argue, it is impossible to “force” the hand of God. But I would like to suggest that there is one thing that you can do to “force” the hand of God, that is, simply surrender completely to Him; allowing Him to do as He pleases in your life; waiting on Him; giving Him the full reign and control; being totally devoted to Him in humility. These, my friends force the hand of God on you. It is almost impossible for God not to act on your behalf when you do that – relinquishing every single bit of control to Him. To prove my point, I would like to draw examples from the story of Asa king of Judah.

Asa was the son of Abijah who was king prior to him, and so he succeeded his father. Asa, we are told “did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God (2 Chronicles 14:2)”. What that means, as narrated in 2 Chronicles is that Asa not only commanded people to seek and love the Lord their God but also restored worship in the land of Judah by removing foreign altars, high places, and Asherah poles where pagan worship used to take place. Asa was devoted to the Lord to the point that he instilled it on his people, renewing the covenant to seek the Lord with all their hearts (2 Chronicles 15:12). Moreover, Asa ensured that the sacerdotal duties were still performed by the Levites as stated in the Law of Moses. Unlike in the opposite kingdom of Israel where king Jeroboam twisted the law of God in such a way that priests were given the position of priests because he as king decided it would be so, Asa on the other hand, decided to follow the law of his God, not departing from it neither to the left nor to the right. As a result of this devotion, the Lord God gave peace to Judah on all sides during the reign of Asa for many years as long as his devotion remained. Furthermore, Asa saw plainly what it means to abandon oneself to the Lord. He understood what the psalmist meant by: “No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame” (Psalm 25:3). He saw God’s mighty power displayed during wars with enemy nations. One such example is the incident whereby Zerah a Cushite man and his big army marched out against Asa and his army of three hundred thousand men. It is important to note here that Zerah had a vast army (thousands upon thousands), coupled with three hundred chariots. This means, Zerah’s army was outnumbering Asa’s army by far. Not only that, in addition to having valiant men, Zerah also had wheels (chariots) which means his army could move quickly in a battlefield. As recounted in the bible, chariots were always that advantageous asset in war that made your adversaries afraid. This was not any different for the people of Israel who frequently got scared of their adversaries precisely because they had chariots even though God had warned them not to be (Deuteronomy 20:1). But Asa, instead of giving in to fear, called out the Lord his God. He prayed to the Lord and reminded Him that no one is like Him and that he (Asa) trusts in Him completely. He recognized that the Lord is a compassionate God who delights in helping the powerless and that at the end of the day, it is the Lord’s name and His reputation that were at sake. That prayer and that trust really pushed the Lord to move on behalf of Asa. That day, the Lord struck down the Cushites and gave victory to Asa. The fact that Asa whose army only accounted for a fraction of Zerah’s army defeated Zerah’s army can only be that the Lord Himself fought that battle and gave victory to Asa. Indeed, He defeated the Cushites on behalf of Asa. Not only did the Lord gave victory to Asa but He also allowed Asa to come back wealthier from that fight because Asa gathered enough spoil from that battle. Indeed, God always does above and beyond what we think or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Moral of the story: give your devotion, your trust, your all to the Lord and you will never be ashamed.

Asa’s devotion to the Lord was remarkable because we read that he even deposed his grandmother who was queen mother because she had made a “repulsive Asherah pole”. The very object that was a constant snare to the Israelites, causing them to fall and sin against the Lord their God by giving themselves to idolatry; that very object, Asa’s grandmother erected. This act would have been tolerable during the reign of Asa’s father as his devotion was not to the Lord but not so during Asa’s reign. Asa was zealous for the Lord and that caused him to hate sin and ensure it was not to be found in the territory of Judah. That is true devotion to the Lord. That to me is what forces the Lord to act on your behalf because what is at stake here is not you but His very character. It is beautiful to see how God acts on behalf of his people; when He takes matters into His own hands, when He decides to intervene. It is simply lovely, and it fills you, the spectator and recipient of such goodness with awe. I pray we will cultivate the undivided devotion to the Lord, the full trust, the steadfastness, and the complete surrender to Him no matter how difficult the situation may be because He is Faithful and True.