It is likely, that if you’ve made it to the bottom of our weekly email to read this post, that you’d know to say and would say that we, as Christ followers, are to rely on no one, but God. He is our rock (Psalm 18:1). He is our present help in time of trouble (Psalm 46:1). He is our gracious provider (Genesis 22:14). He is indeed our Good Shepherd (John 10:11; Psalm 23:1). He makes us lie down in green pastures (Psalm 23:2a). He leads us beside still waters (Psalm 23:2b). He restores our soul (Psalm 23:3a). He leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (Psalm 23:3b). He alone lays down His life for us, the sheep. And, in addition to our eternal security, we’re promised in Philippians that God will supply every need of ours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19, emphasis mine).
We know these things! We believe these things! We’d amen these truths. But just as, “the proof (test) of the pudding is in the eating,” the test of our reliance on our triune God comes from affliction. In 2 Chronicles chapters 13, 14, and 16 we see three different occasions of affliction, and three separate instances of reliance. But one of these cases is not like the others. One of these cases just doesn’t belong. It turns out, it’s not reliance itself, or faith itself, or trust that ultimately matters. It’s what you’re relying in, or better, Whom you’re relying on that makes all the difference.
So let us briefly turn to these passages with affliction to see how the object of reliance was crucial in the outcome being a triumph or a tragedy.
Chapter 13 finds the once united kingdom under David and Solomon now split and in civil war. King Jeroboam and the northern kingdom of Israel were facing off against Solomon’s grandson, King Abijah and the southern kingdom of Judah. The outlook wasn’t good for Judah in the south. Jeroboam and Israel had not only double the soldiers (800,000 for Israel versus 400,000 for Judah), but the text details the chosen soldiers of Israel were “mighty warriors.” Despite Abijah’s bold and courageous speech of trust and obedience to Yahweh, Jeroboam set up an ambush so that the outnumbered, out-skilled soldiers of Judah were surrounded. Here is how the text chronicled the response of Abijah and Judah to this affliction:
“14 And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them. And they cried to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets. 15 Then the men of Judah raised the battle shout. And when the men of Judah shouted, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 The men of Israel fled before Judah, and God gave them into their hand. 17 Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men.”
Did you catch that? The battle was in front and behind. They cried to the LORD. The priests blew the battle horns. The battle shout was raised. You get some reminisces of the battle of Jericho here. And what happens? Just like with pagan Jericho, God defeated idolatrous Jeroboam and Israel. The round, astounding number of 500,000 men of Israel fell slain by God’s power and decree through Judah. This is the largest numerical military defeat by death toll in all the Bible. Why did God work this great and devastating victory for Judah? Verse 18, “…the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers,” (emphasis mine). The word for relied in the Hebrew is “shaw-an”. It means to support oneself on, to lean, to rest on/in. It’s complete trust.
If you’ve ever done repelling, there is a point at the top where you lean all the way back and rest all your weight not on your feet, but on the harness and rope. When you are fully horizontal to the wall or ledge and push off, whether you are enjoying it or not, your reliance is no longer on your feet or grip strength, but on the harness, rope, and what the rope is connected to. It is supporting you. All your weight is leaned against it. You are resting, relying on it to hold – completely. This is shaw-an. This is why Judah triumphed over an enemy twice their size. They actively relied on God, and He brought the victory.
Skip forward now a chapter later to 2 Chronicles 14 to Abijah’s son Asa, now sitting on the throne and facing his own incredible affliction. He’s was not quite outnumbered 2 to 1 as his dad was, but his foe, Zerah the Ethiopian amassed an army of a million men, with 300 chariots to boot. What was Asa’s response? It seems he learned something positive from his father, because as he went to meet Zerah and drew up battle lines v.11 says,
“ 11 And Asa cried to the LORD his God, ‘O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.’ 12 So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.”
In affliction, against the greatest of earthly armies, the “shaw-na” (reliance) on God is on full display.
Not resting on numbers – Verse 8 of chapter 14 tells us Asa has 580,000 mighty men of valor, yet he’s not resting on his numbers, but on Yahweh. He cries out to Him as the One-of-One, the unique, fully set apart, unrivaled Being to help.
Not leaning on personal strength, skillset, gifting, or courage – His army is described as mighty men, strong. They’re described as men of valor – brave. The likely were both highly trained and highly seasoned warriors. Yet, Asa is not leaning on his army’s fighting pedigree or courage, because he’s calling out to God to help his side, referring to them as weak and needing Him.
Relying on Yahweh’s character – It is in Yahweh’s name – His character, His essence, His glory and strength that he dares come against a million-man army.
Personal reliance on God – The king of Judah is calling out to his people’s God, to his God. His reliance is personal.
Relying on Yahweh’s passion for His glory – How does he end the prayer? He ends it by calling on God to act for His glory and fame. “Let not man prevail against You”. This is no selfish prayer by Asa. This is a prayer recognizing that Judah belongs to Yahweh. A defeat for His people relying on Him is a defeat for Yahweh. He must win the battle because He must be seen as ultimate, as the mightiest, as the eternal creator who takes His weak people and triumphs through them. He must not be defeated by His own creation made of dust! God’s passion for His glory is another reason to rely on Him to fight and win Your battles because in that scenario He always receives the rightful glory and you always experience joy and gladness in Him.
In all of this, Yahweh defeated the Ethiopian horde and sent them fleeing. His people followed, triumphing and taking the spoils.
And then comes 2 Chronicles 16, 36 years into Asa’s reign. A new enemy king is mentioned in Israel (Baasha) and he’s building a city barrier, blocking people from defecting to Judah or having any movement outside of Judah. So what does Asa, the man who knows his father’s great victory over Israel and experienced himself God’s triumph over the Ethiopians do? He goes and buys a victory through a bribe. He breaks up the holy symbols of the beauty, majesty, and worth of God’s presence with His people in the temple by stealing gold and silver from its storehouses (and his own) to covenant with king Ben-hadad of Syria. He took the politically strategic move to befriend the bigger bully and it seems to work. Chapter 16 verses 4-6,
“ 4 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. 5 And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. 6 Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Romah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.”
But the Lord of glory, the God of all creation, our covenant keeping God, knows when we’ve turned to something else beside Him. Verse 7 through 9 read,
“ 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. 8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He gave them into your hand. 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.”
It seems after many years of faithfully seeking the LORD (2 Chronicles 14:4; 15:12-15), tearing down idols and high places (14:3,5; 15:8), and even removing idolatrous family members from office (15:16), that the affliction of war after years of peace causes Asa to shift his reliance from the King of kings to the king of Syria.
This is a cautionary tale for us as Christ followers and one where the Gospel gives us hope. Asa worked under the promise he once heard from Azariah’s prophecy, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD 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,” (2 Chronicles 15:2). As chosen sons and daughters of God by His grace through faith in Christ we were once those people who had forsaken God. Yet, the Son of God, did stay true to His father, always seeking Him and yet took our sin at the cross and experienced the forsakenness of God our wickedness deserved (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46), so that in Christ we can be assured that God says to us, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” (Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5c). Yet the warnings throughout Hebrews and even earlier in 13:4-5 are for us as a Gospel means to keep us strong in the faith. We’re to hold marriage in high honor, to flee from any and all sexual sin, to keep our lives free from the love of money, and be content with what we have. These are means to keep us with our hearts and hopes set on God, fully relying on Him, no matter the affliction that comes. Hebrews 13:6 follows up the great promise that God will never leave or forsake us with, “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”
Loved ones, no matter our affliction, let’s continue to meet and remind each other to rely fully on the God who didn’t spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us, so we can trust Him to graciously give us all things (Romans 8:32). Let us rely on the One who will supply our every need according to His riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Who has told us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all the things we truly need will be supplied (Matthew 6:33). Who has told us that His eyes run to and fro throughout the earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). May Christ’s blameless heart towards God be more formed in us, as we lean our weight and hopes fully on God.
