Today’s reading speaks volumes about trusting in the Lord. Asa trusted the Lord (at least for a while).  "Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord". The kingdom was at peace.  Among the things that Asa did was to remove the foreign altars, high places, smashed the sacred stones, and cut down the Asherah poles.  These were pagan idols.  Are there any things in our lives or our churches that could be considered pagan? 

Often we are told in Scripture that the kings did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord and caused the nation to sin.  The people followed the example of their leader.  Leaders in our nation and leaders in our churches can lead the people astray. 

It was the Lord who struck down the Cushites. Asa and his army just chased them. As spoken through the prophet Azariah, “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.”

Why would anyone want to be forsaken by the Lord? Why not seek Him? Things are so much easier that way!

When Asa heard these words from the Lord, he took courage and began to remove all the detestable idols from the land again and he repaired the altar at the temple. However, he didn’t remove the high places in Israel.

Asa did well in the beginning but he sure took a tumble at the end. Instead of trusting in the Lord as had done earlier, he relied on his own human power and strength. As a result his nation was at war again. Even concerning his own physical health, Asa relied on his physicians alone instead of seeking help from the Lord. Can we learn any lessons from this?

Jehoshaphat ruled after his father Asa, but he did not remove the high places (sites of pagan rituals) and "the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their fathers".  

We can't set our hearts on seeking God until we remove our "high places".

2 Chr 16:9a
For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

1 Pet 3:12a
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer,

Are our hearts fully committed to Him? If so He strengths us and listens to our prayers. What a great comfort!