The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. 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. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will
forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach
and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel,
and sought him, and he was found by them. In those days it was not safe to travel
about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being
crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with
every kind of distress. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will
be rewarded.”
When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet,
he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and
Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the
altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple.
Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh
and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers had come over to him
from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
Gracious God and Heavenly Father,
You are indeed gracious to your people. You want your people to have a relationship with you and to live by your word. In the past, you reached out to godless people through your prophets and today you reach out to us through the reading of your word in pulpits and through missionaries and ordinary Christian believers.
Father, we are grateful for the example of Asa, King of Judah, who lived so many centuries ago but who is in some ways no different from any of us. He heard and believed your word of grace and truth as told to him from the prophet Azariah and responded in faith. He repented of his idol worship and took courage and worshipped the LORD. He was in a position to influence many, not just because he was the King, but because his transformed life bore witness to his living faith in the one true God. We too must seek you with our whole hearts and repent of our sins and live in a way that bears witness to the truth of your gospel.
We pray that people will look at us and see something different; we hope that they will see Jesus.
LORD, help us to be strong in our faith, quick to confess, ready to serve and obey and in everything to shine like Jesus to bring you alone the glory. Send the Holy Spirit to soften the hearts of unbelievers and bring them to yourself just as you showed mercy to King Asa and to us.
In Christ’s name we pray.
AMEN.