Day 176 (1 Kings 15, 2 Chronicles 13-16) - Year 7
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. King Ray, the first king of the southern kingdom of Judah, has died, and he's replaced by his son Abijam, also known as Abijah. Abijah does not follow God, just like his dad. Meanwhile, King Jerry is still king in the northern kingdom of Israel, and these two obviously don't get along.

King Jerry's people come out to attack King Abijah's people. And Abijah tells Jerry, look, we know you're acting wickedly. We know all about your golden calves and your fake temple and your non-Levite priests. And if you attack us, it's bound to fail because it's an attack against God. Even though Abijah is wicked himself, he's not wrong about this. In the battle, Abijah is outnumbered two to one, but he and his army kill more than half of Jerry's army and take some of his land as well.

After Abijah dies, the next king of Judah is his son Asa. And finally, we have a God-fearing man on the throne in the south. Hooray! Asa gets a serious pep talk from a man named Azariah, who acts as the mouthpiece of God the Spirit. And after Azariah reminds him of his purpose as king and encourages him to be bold in making reforms, Asa does just that.

He is not afraid to make things right in Judah, even if that means kicking family members out of their roles in the kingdom. He fires all the male cult prostitutes and tears down the idols. He makes rebellion against God punishable by death. He does leave some of the spots that are designated for idol worship intact, so he's not completely thorough in keeping others from worshiping idols. But as for his heart, he only worships Yahweh.

One thing you may begin to notice is that the kings in Judah, the southern kingdom, are always compared to whether or not they're like David. He set the standard for what a good king is.

Meanwhile, the northern kingdom gets a new king when Jerry dies. His name is Nadab. He's an evil king, but he only has a two-year reign. He and his whole family are murdered by a man named Basha, who takes over the throne in the northern kingdom, and he's an evil king too. However, God uses him to fulfill the words of the prophet Ahijah in 1 Kings 14, when he foretold that all of Jerry's family would be killed.

After that massacre against his fellow Northerners, Basha devises a plan against Asa and the Southern Kingdom, which involves setting up a blockade on one of their major highways. Even though God has given Asa incredible military victories as the underdog, Asa decides to rely on his own plan for how to handle this situation. His decision seems logical and diplomatic and maybe even wise, especially since his army is likely outnumbered, but he doesn't seek God's counsel on it.

He takes a bunch of valuable stuff that he's got in storage and offers it to a neighboring king in exchange for his country attacking Basha and Israel instead. When Basha realizes what's happening, he stops building the blockade. Then, King Asa takes all the supplies Basha was using to build his blockade, throws them on the back of an 18-wheeler, and uses them to build his own blockade against Basha elsewhere.

A prophet named Hanani comes to Asa and lets him know that he may have gotten what he wanted, but God is not pleased. And the consequence of not trusting God for victory over his enemies is that he'll now have lots of enemies and they'll make war against him. Asa does not receive correction well. He's furious. He imprisons the prophet Hanani and starts being cruel to other people too.

He's probably living in deep regret over his actions, but he can't seem to see that he's only making things worse by letting his anger and regret rule him instead of repenting. Asa continues walking in autonomy, not seeking God. Even when he comes down with a terrible disease that leads to his death, he seeks help from everyone but God. Asa ruled Judah a long time, long enough for five kings to come and go in the northern kingdom. He started out wise, but he died arrogant and angry.

Then his son Jehoshaphat takes over the throne in the southern kingdom. What was your God shot today? Mine was when God the Spirit was speaking through Azariah the prophet in 2 Chronicles 15. And he said, if you seek him, he will be found by you.

This made me think of you guys out there reading and recapping with us every day. You're seeking him. You're at least 176 days into seeking him. Have you been finding him? What do you know about him that you didn't know 177 days ago? I hope your days are stacked with evidence of him. I hope you're finding him in places you never even thought possible. Places like Leviticus and Numbers and genealogies. Keep seeking him.

Because I bet you know him more today than you did yesterday, but not as much as you'll know him tomorrow. And I hope you're seeing every day that he's where the joy is.

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