https://esv.literalword.com/?q=2+Chronicles+16
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Monday, 8 December 2025:
2 Chronicles 16:1 — In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah….
Asa faces a strategic threat, but instead of returning to the pattern of dependence that defined his early leadership, he shifts to a self-directed operating model. The man who once relied on God to defeat a million-man force (2 Chronicles 14) now behaves like a pressured leader backing into reactive decision-making. Ramah threatens Judah’s influence and economic freedom, yet the real crisis is internal: Asa is no longer leaning into the Lord, no longer driving decisions through faith-based governance. Pressure exposes what a leader trusts.
2 Chronicles 16:2-3 — Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries… and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria… saying, “Let there be a covenant between me and you.”
When we shift from reliance on God to reliance on ourselves, the downstream operational impact is always the same: we start reallocating resources, time, energy, attention, affection, away from God and toward whatever pressure point feels most urgent. The pattern is ancient and modern. Asa took gold from the temple; we take time, rest, joy, and obedience from the “temple” of our own lives. We divert what belongs to God to buy peace from people, circumstances, expectations, or fears.
Self-reliance turns life into a frantic workload. We trade worship for worrisome work. We overextend, under-rest, and justify the pace because it delivers quick wins. But the return on investment is smoke. We sacrifice fellowship with God and meaningful connection with others to build a sense of security that only God can actually provide. The result is organizational burnout and burn down – this path doesn’t lead to fruitfulness but rather barrenness.
We undermine the very place God intends to dwell, our own bodies, by running them like over-leveraged assets: too much work, too little sleep, cheap fuel, compulsive caffeine intake, and emotional self-medication. We try to outrun exhaustion instead of obeying God’s rhythms. We compensate with digital escape, television, scrolling, gaming, to drown the noise we created. We give God half-hearted engagement and call it discipleship. We give the world our anxiety and call it commitment.
And the church often mirrors the same dysfunctional operating model: overloaded, exhausted, reactive, anxious, and indistinguishable from the broader culture. Instead of functioning as a countercultural ecosystem of peace, unity, and holiness, it becomes a reflection of the ambient chaos. The metrics show it: stress, division, moral fatigue, compromised witness.
It takes faith, real faith, to exit the rat race. To stop building personal kingdoms and return to Kingdom living. The Kingdom operates on different measures: love, joy, peace, unity, obedience, and a Spirit-driven life anchored in the will of the Father and the leadership of the Son. Security does not come from overwork; it comes from surrender. Strength does not come from self-reliance; it comes from abiding.
This is the call: move from anxiety-fueled self-management to God-centered alignment. Lose the illusion of control, regain actual peace. Stop trying to prop up your kingdom, and reenter His.
2 Chronicles 16:7 — At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa…. Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.
The Lord sends Asa a prophet not to shame him but to expose the true breakdown: reliance. The prophet does not rebuke the logistics of Asa’s treaty but the posture of Asa’s heart. Reliance determines outcome. In this moment of pressure, Asa downgraded his dependence and stopped seeking the God who had always been his strength. He solved the crisis but forfeited the victory God was prepared to deliver. Leaders can win the wrong way and still lose. When a believer stops praying, stops inquiring, stops waiting on the Lord, the drift has already begun, and the consequences eventually surface.
2 Chronicles 16:8 — Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army…? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He gave them into your hand.
Hanani forces Asa to revisit his own history. God had already built a foundation of deliverance into Asa’s life, a library of proven faithfulness that should have anchored his decisions. The earlier victory was not an anomaly; it was a precedent. Forgetfulness is one of the most dangerous failures in spiritual leadership. When you lose sight of how God has carried you before, you default to what feels controllable, measurable, and predictable, even if it is spiritually empty. You never know what victories you are forfeiting when you compromise your trust in God, because His plans are always greater than you can comprehend with your own wisdom. Jesus warned His disciples of this very drift, reminding them continually to “remember” His works (John 14:26).
You have no idea what you are giving up when you compromise your fidelity to God. God wants so much more from you that you cannot see with your own wisdom.
2 Chronicles 16:9 — For 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. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.
This verse is the theological center of the entire narrative. God actively scans the world looking for people who will trust Him so He can strengthen them. The requirement is not flawlessness but alignment, a heart leaning His way. Asa’s decision positioned him outside the stream of God’s direct support. By choosing human leverage over divine dependence, he also chose ongoing conflict over peace. Scripture reinforces this pattern: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5-6). When you fill your life with substitutes for God, you guarantee turbulence that was never meant for you.
When leaders reject reliance, they also reject the peace that comes with it.
When you turn to substitutes for God to solve your problems, you will always suffer greatly. Trust in the Lord, not your own understanding, with all of your heart, and He will take care of you.
2 Chronicles 16:10 — Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks…. Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.
This is the tragic acceleration of spiritual regression. Regression accelerates under pride. Pride hardens quickly. Instead of repenting, Asa silences the one voice God sent to rescue him. Who has God sent you? Or, are you avoiding or squelching the counsel of the godly? Asa, a leader who once prayed, sought counsel, and humbled himself before the Lord now punishes correction and suppresses accountability. When someone stops listening to God, they eventually stop listening to godly people too, perhaps turning to the ungodly who eloquently proclaim the lie of self-reliance. This is the pattern Jesus warned about when He said His messengers would be rejected and persecuted for speaking truth (John 15:18-21). The more a heart drifts, the more it resists anything that calls it back.
2 Chronicles 16:11-12 — In the thirty-ninth year…. Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians.
The Chronicler exposes the deeper sickness: Asa’s refusal to seek the Lord. Physicians were not the problem; God regularly works through ordinary means. The indictment is Asa’s unwillingness to invite God into his suffering. Even in pain, limitation, and weakness, his instinct remained self-reliance. The man who once prayed for God’s help now refuses even to ask. There is a warning here for every believer: you can preserve outward success yet lose inward dependence. You can win battles yet lose intimacy. Finishing well is not automatic. The New Testament echoes this caution: “You were running well. Who hindered you…?” (Galatians 5:7).
Asa did not finish well. Don’t lose the race on the final lap. Resolve to make your last day your best day, not by doubling down on self-reliance, rather loving, trusting surrender. Remember, God’s life goal for you is oneness with Him (John 17), and Christlike character (Romans 8:29), not the things you accomplish in this life, which are futile apart from Him. Do great things, but that is only possible if the branch remains fully connected to the Vine – the life of the branch is the Vine! (John 15)
2 Chronicles 16:13-14 — And Asa slept with his fathers… and they laid him on a bier… and made a very great fire in his honor.
Asa receives an honorable burial but leaves a disappointing legacy. His people recognized his achievements, but the Scriptures record the truth of his decline. He began with spiritual fire, tearing down idols, restoring worship, depending wholeheartedly on the Lord. But he ended hardened and resistant. It is possible to be remembered publicly for success while Scripture remembers you for drift. The danger is not how you start the race but how you finish. Resolve, by the grace of God, that your last day will be your strongest day of dependence.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) — 8 December 2025: Audit your dependence today. Identify one decision where you are defaulting to control, pressure, or human leverage instead of trust. Stop the drift before it deepens. Seek the Lord first, pray before moving, open Scripture before deciding, and surrender your instinct to manage outcomes. Choose reliance over self-reliance.
Pray: “Father, align my heart with Yours. Expose every corner where I rely on myself instead of You and where I seek a result in my life which isn’t oneness with you first and foremost. Break the patterns of pride, hurry, and control that draw me away from dependence. Make me teachable, humble, and quick to respond to Your correction as I seek you, your will, and your glory in whatever I am doing, seeing my activities as fellowship walks with you. Strengthen my faith so I finish this race with deeper reliance, deep relationship with you, than when I began. Keep me close, keep me steady, and keep me seeking You first in all things. Amen.”
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