Untitled Sermon (3)

How to respond to God’s punishments.

Asa. A man who made many right decisions in his life.

He tried to honor God with his decisions. He seemed very consistent in his spiritual life.

Asa. Made a wrong decision in his life.

Oddly, the man that seemed consistent to honor God changed his behavior suddenly.

He was rebuked by God for doing something he thought was the right decision. Instead of repenting, he went the opposite direction. He punished God’s messenger and oppressed some of his people.

What could have caused him to make the 180 turn? He was provoked, grieved, angered by the seer.

- Was it how the messenger delivered the message? HIs tone? His mannerism?

- Was it that he thought he was above rebuke?

- Did he feel like that, as king, he had the right to make that decision (maybe he thought it was a good one) on his own?

- Did he feel that since he followed God’s leadership many times before, he should have been given some slack now that he made a decision on his own?

Whatever his reasoning or cause, the fact is that he acted in a rebellious way towards God’s man and God’s people.

Oh, would we as servants of God would act godly in all situations, but the truth is that we don’t always. God, please help me (us) to be godly in all my ways, especially in the ways that matters most.