Asa Relies on the LORD

Dust rises on the horizon. Chariots. Hundreds of them. Behind them, an army so huge it seems to have no end. And standing in the valley, facing it all, is a king who has only one plan. Pray.

Long after Solomon, the kingdom has split in two. In the south is Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital. Its new king is Asa, a great-grandson of Solomon. When Asa takes the throne, the land has been full of other gods. Altars to foreign gods. Sacred stones. Wooden poles for the goddess Asherah. Asa tears them down. He removes the shrines from the towns of Judah. And he commands the people to seek the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and to keep his law. For ten years the land is quiet. There is no war. And Asa uses the peace well.

Let us build these towns, Asa tells the people, and put walls around them, with towers and gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God. We sought him, and he has given us rest on every side. So they build, and they prosper. Asa also trains an army. Men of Judah with large shields and spears. Men of Benjamin with small shields and bows. Brave fighting men. But Asa is about to learn that walls and soldiers are not where his real strength lies.

One day word arrives from the south. Zerah the Cushite is coming, with an enormous army, a thousand thousand men, says the text, and three hundred chariots. They reach Mareshah, a town in the low hills of Judah. Asa marches out to meet them, and the armies take up position in the valley of Zephathah, near Mareshah. Asa looks across the valley. His army is outnumbered. His walls are behind him, but they will not help him here. And so, before a single arrow flies, Asa cries out to the LORD his God.

LORD, he prays, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and those who have no strength. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this great crowd. O LORD, you are our God. Do not let man prevail against you. Listen to that prayer. Asa does not say, we are strong enough. He does not even say, please make us strong. He says, we are the ones who have no strength, and it is nothing for you to help. And then he puts God's honour on the line. Don't let mere people win against you. And the LORD strikes down the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and they flee. Asa and his army chase them all the way to Gerar. The invaders are scattered. The fear of the LORD falls on the towns around Gerar, and Judah returns home safe, with sheep and camels and plunder in great numbers.

Mareshah, where the armies met, is a real place you can visit. Today it is Tel Maresha, in the low hills between the Judean mountains and the coastal plain. Beneath it and the nearby town of Bet Guvrin are hundreds of caves carved into the soft chalk over many centuries. In 2014 UNESCO listed these caves as a World Heritage Site.

Asa relies on the LORD. You'll find this story in Second Chronicles chapter fourteen. A king who used peaceful years to seek God, and who, facing an army he could never beat, prayed: we rely on you. So here is a question to carry with you. When something feels far too big for you, how could you rely on God, as Asa did?