Glimpses of my Meditative Gleanings

7/26/10 My favorite thing about Monday mornings in the summertime is that I get to join the faithful, albeit small, group of prayer warriors in the prayer room at church. Today was my last day to have that privilege. As I’ve told you before the procedure is to have a passage of scripture for meditation prior to praying. This morning it was 3 chapters in II Chronicles---14, 15, & 16. “Too much” was my first thought. But the story of Asa would not have been complete and it’s his story that had such an impact on my meditation.
Chapter 14
v. 2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God (Could that be said about me?)
v. 3 …..he removed the altars of the foreign gods (What false idols need to be removed from my life?)
v. 4 He commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. (Do I show leadership in encouraging others to seek the Lord?)
v. 6 ….because we have sought the LORD our God (Battles were won, rest and quiet were given b/c of seeking the Lord. 5x rest & quiet were mentioned in first 7 verses)
v. 11 ….in Your name we go against this multitude (Do I face my battles against the world’s way by calling on the Lord’s Hebrew name---Elohim?)
Chapter 15
v. 2 The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; (Wise men seek the Lord and He allows them to find Him.)
v. 4 when in their trouble they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them. (Does it take times of trouble to get my attention to cause me to turn to Him?)
v. 12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul (AM I seeking the Lord with all my heart and soul?)
v. 17 But the high places (a pagan religious worship area usually located on a natural height/hill) were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days. (A loyal heart for all one’s days---what a testimony. God sees the heart.)
Chapter 16 (Asa’s failure)
v. 7 “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God,…..(In Asa’s later years, he made mistakes/bad choices but God still knew his heart and Asa only needed to cry out to him.)
Dr. Constables notes summed it up.
Asa's heart was right in that he consistently loved God. Nevertheless, like David, his obedience lapsed. He trusted in a foreign alliance and later in physicians more than in Yahweh. This resulted in defeat and death.

"Asa, then, has done a complete volte-face from his earlier faithfulness. It
is as if we meet two altogether different Asas. He appeared first in the
strength of God-reliance, now in the weakness of self-reliance." (McConville, p.174)

v. 9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. (Lord, may I be found faithful even as I age. May others see a heart in me that is loyal to You.)

See how meditation can lead to conviction, confession prayer and even further study!