Silly, Sad King Asa

Context is sobering at times. There's a sad story wrapped around the passage we love to quote from yesterday's reading:

" . . . 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 . . ."
- from 2 Chronicles 16:9

How much I'm like silly, sad King Asa, who relied upon the Lord in the early years of his reign (because he had no choice!), only to abandon Him when his prospects improved. Asa was sadly outnumbered by his enemies at the beginning of his reign, and God delivered him big-time.

It is ironically improbable, and sad, and downright silly that thirty-five years later, when his resources allowed him to buy aid from a neighboring nation, King Asa decided it was a better bet to trust Syria than to continue to depend upon God for his safety and security.

Lord help me to learn from the context here, and to heed the sober warning not to exhaust myself in futility when all I need to do is turn to Him to keep me safe!