Rely Only On God - He Cares For You!

'' 1 Chronicles 10:13 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance , and did not inquire of the Lord.So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.''

'' 2 Chronicles 16:2-13 :
''2 Chr 16 : 2-5 : Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.
''Let there be a treaty between me and you, '' he said, '' as there was between my father and your father.See, I am sending you silver and gold.Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.'' Ben-hadaad agreed with king Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel.They conquered Ijon,Dan, Abel Maim and all the store cities of Nahtali.When Baasha heard this he abandoned his work.''

''2 Chr 16 :7-9 : At the time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: '' Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen ? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand.
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.You have done a foolish thing and from now on you will be at war.''

''2 Chr 16:12, 13 In the thirty-ninth year Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers.''

Dear people, as we meditate on these portions of Holy Scriptures, we need to learn how critical it is if we fail to keep the word of God and turn our eyes to our own wisdom and other sources for our guidance in our lives.

In 1 Chronicles 10:13, word of God declares the reason why Saul died was because he was unfaithful to God. Not only that he even consulted a medium for guidance and did not inquire of the Lord. And which is why God put him to death.

Lets look into some Scriptures in Acts in context to 'consulting a medium' :

There are powers of darkness all around us. These powers do know the future, they do know God too. This doesn't imply that we should take the benefit of these mediums when we need some guidance in any critical situations we are going through. Because the word of God forbids us from doing so.

''Acts 16:16-18 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ''These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.''

She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, ''In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!'' At that moment the spirit left her.''

As we read above, these spirits who predict future submit to Jesus Christ.

They know God.

And as children of God we must not rely on any such sources. The only source we are commanded to seek, is His Word.

Our times does not depend on any stars or any seasons or neither on any positions of heavenly bodies in the galaxy. It is God who determines the times set for each of us:

'' Acts 17 : 24 -28 'The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' ''

As these above Scriptures declare, it is God who gives us life and breath and it is He who determines our times and even the places of our dwelling.

He does this so that we all go to Him and seek Him. God wants us to find Him, he is not far from any one who seek Him earnestly.
It is in Him that we need to move and have our being.

God has made Jesus, our Saviour and Redeemer. And through Jesus, He reconciled us to Him.
If we are to seek God and have our being in Him, all we must adhere to is the Living Word of God who is Jesus, the Christ.

There must not be any other sources or mediums that we should look up to, in order to get guidance in our lives.

Our inmost beings must be wrapped up with His word and our being must be in his word, as we are His offspring.

God forbid that any of us consult such mediums in order to know the fortunes!

Saul had lost his life for consulting a spiritist instead of God.

Perhaps he thought it was the quickest way to know things, but this only made his death come much quicker than expected !

We also read in 2 Chr 16 : 2 - 13 on how King Asa was relying on God for certain time and then at some point he took things into his hands without consulting God. Its then God withdrew his protection around him and he died due to severe illness.

Lets read again:
'' 2 Chr 16 : 2-5 Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.

''Let there be a treaty between me and you, ''he said,'' as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.'' Ben-hadaad agreed with king Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel.They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim and all the store cities of Nahtali. When Baasha heard this he abandoned his work.''

''2 Chr 16 : 7-9 At the time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: ''Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand.
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.You have done a foolish thing and from now on you will be at war.''

''2 Chr 16 : 12,13 In the thirty-ninth year Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Those his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers.''

If we read some verses still above we see that king Asa and his people actually entered into a covenant with God that they will seek only God with all their heart and soul. All who would not seek the Lord God of Israel were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. And as long as they sought the Lord, God gave them rest from all sides.

'' 2 Chr 15 :12 - 15 They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. They took an oath to the Lord with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly , and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side. ''

When the people sought the Lord eagerly, He was found by them.

As long as they sought him God has given them rest in all sides and protected them.
( The same is conveyed by Aposle Paul in Acts 17:24 that God wants his people to seek him and find him. And have our being in Him and move in Him )

However in the thirty-sixth year of King Asa, we see that, instead of seeking the Lord, King Asa took things into his own hands and entered into a treaty with king of Aram in order to save himself from Baasha, the King of Israel, who went up against Judah, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.

We also read in these Scriputres that Asa and people of Judah have actually entered a covenant with God to seek only Him and whoever does not seek irrespective of their gender or profile, they would be put to death.

They have sworn this whole heartedly.

Dear people, most of us accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, wholeheartedly.

We take oaths and promises that we will not leave Him and will allow Him to rule our lives.

But when tough situations come, we take things into our hands. We want to apply our own wisdom and understanding and take quick decisions without involving God.

When Jesus is invited into our lives as a Saviour, dear people, He must be honored to provide His guidance and protection in all matters of our lives, both small and great.
God wants us to walk in Him and have our being in Him.

He doesn't want us to make our own presumptions and act according to our wisdom.

In the above, King Asa felt it was perfect for him to seek the help of King of Aram, who was ruling Damascus, in order to win over King Baasha of Israel.
And he was successful in his own eyes, because when he entered a treaty with Ben-hadad, king of Aram, King Baasha of Israel abadoned his work against King Asa.

But this was only foolishness in the eyes of the Lord.

''2 Chr 16 : 7-9 At the time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: '' Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing and from now on you will be at war.''

God has withdrawn His rest from King Asa, when he failed to seek God.

Until that moment they were at rest in all sides - rest given by God, but when Asa took things into his hands, God withdrew His rest.

We read in further verses in this chapter that Asa was angry and puts this seer in prison and even brutally oppresses some of the people. He who entered a covenant with God, to seek Him only, broke the covenant himself when he entered the treaty with King of Aram.

Dear people, once we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we enter the blood covenant.
A covenant that is established with the blood of Gods' own Son.

This blood was shed in order to reconcile us to God so that God may dwell in us and rule our lives.

Ruling our lives, meaning ruling every single aspect of our lives.

And we should seek God and allow God to provide His guidance at every step we take in our lives-

We should not allow our human wisdom to run ahead of God's guidance and provision.

God has delivered powerful armies into the hands of King Asa. Despite that Asa relied on King Ben-Hadad for help against King Baasha. And thereby he lost God's protection.

He wanted to win over one king with the help of another, keeping God aside. Had he sought the Lord, He would have delivered king Asa not only from King of Israel, but also the king of Aram into Asa's hands. But Asa thought he was being wise in seeking help of king of Aram, but in reality he was being foolish !

We also read that when Asa fell sick he relied only on the physicians, but did not seek the Lord:

'' 2 Chr 16 : 12-13 : In the thirty-ninth year Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers. ''

Two years God has been waiting for Asa to seek His help for his illness. But we see that he relied only on the physicians. Had he turned to God, and repented and asked for God's help to deliver him from the illness in his feet, God perhaps would have spared his life. But Asa did not rely on God and finally lost his life at a very early age.

Dear people, do not take things easy.

Do not think that let me not bother God, let me do it myself for this time-No !

This is not what God expects from us. For the word of God says, He wants and waits on us for us to call him. He longs to dwell in us and rule our lives, giving us rest from all the turmoil and toil of the world.

We don't have to fight the battles of our lives ourselves, for we are the redeemed of the Most High God who does the battles for us and delivers us each time we call on Him.

'' Psalm 50:15 Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.''

'' Psalm 73:27, 28 Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge.''

Therefore dear children of God, rely only on our God for all your needs.

Do not turn to the world or any other source, neither a medium nor a spiritist, but steadfastly look upto the deliverance of our God, who determines our times and dwelling places.

Make Him your only refuge in all your situations, and all your matters, both small and great.

God Bless You.