Lean on Jehovah and not on men

Study: # 712 – Church in the Houses From: January 24 – 30, 2012 Topic: "Lean on Jehovah and not on men" 2 Chronicles 16: 7-10

To lean is to support, to hold up, to rest one thing on another. The day we trust God, we will look upwards, but the day we trust mankind we start to stumble here on earth. Psalm 118:8 says, "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." Isaiah 31:1 says, "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord.” This is how clear things are, men look where they are not supposed to look; they do not look to God. Those who seek help in Egypt trust the strength of the horses that disappear when wounded. There can be many and great chariots in the war, but the strength comes from Jehovah; men forget that the sword can get in the way of the horsemen in spite of their bravery. They do not look to or seek God. Oh, to men who lived like this! Jeremiah 17:5 says: "This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trust in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord”. The blessing is in God. Men forget too often the power is in God. We look at the men beside us to help or bless us. When we are in trouble we depend on creatures to overcome the problem and find relief. It is that we are always obstinate in seeking help from men, but what we will find is disappointment. Our trust cannot be placed in human fragility. When we put our trust in men, the heart becomes separated from God. It is crazy to trust this or that other man who is just as weak as we are. On that occasion, the biblical passage in 2 Chronicles, tells us that the prophet had to arrive and speak on God’s behalf so that men would awaken and not be condemned. The prophet brings a reproach to King Asa. How much does a reproach hurt! The problem is that a reproach is a consequence of a man’s bad condition; it is not that God is tired of working. This happens because men become tired of praying, weeping, crying out and resisting to be controlled by the flesh. So this is a consequence of being neglected that brings reproaches from God. When we do not seek God as we should, then we lean on men. The prophet reproached: “You have leaned on the King of Syria, and not Jehovah your God”. It’s that God knows everything; He knows what you should do in life, in your ministry, in your struggle and in your trials. He knows your illness. God knows everything about you, so the best one to support you is the one who knows it all, that is God! God wants us to always lean on him. One cannot succeed when it is mankind who struggles for us or favors us. God looked for you in order to perform his deeds in all your life. We cannot forget what God has done for each one of us when we have cried out to him. The word of God speaks to us in 2 Chronicles 14:9, 11, 12 of the victory God gave Asa when fighting against millions of Ethiopians and his clamor to the Lord. Asa had forgotten everything that God had done to favor him. All those deeds in his favor were already forgotten. His experiences with God were dull in his heart and now he did not know how to react in God. In what did he become distracted, that the prophet came to admonish him? He befriended someone he shouldn’t have, the King of Syria; that friendship led him to take his sight away from God. When you become distracted in evil things you cannot see God, but rather you only see the figure of that man (another human like you) who is in front of you that does not let you see God. Oh, when this happens to us! There is no difference for God in helping the powerful or those who have no strength. (2 Chronicles 14:11). Help us God because we lean on you! Jehovah destroyed the Ethiopians. This is the way in which God wants us to believe Him, for us to ask for His help and lean on Him. It could have been that Asa thought that God could not help him against Baasa. We can see how deceitful the heart can be, it cannot be trusted. Many times we turn to God when there is nothing else tangible and earthly we can trust, and as soon as it appears we incline to it immediately and we forget about God. We can do this easily. It happens when we’re ill, with our problems, in bad circumstances, etc. Asa acted against the knowledge he had of God, of His providence. He forgot the Omniscience and Omnipotence of God in favor of those who have a perfect heart for Him. God wanted to keep demonstrating his power to King Asa. The Lord also wants to demonstrate His power to you, but we act crazy and instead of receiving wellbeing we receive more struggles, more torture. The real danger is when we do not lean on God.

Asa felt wounded because of the reprimand and became angry. Now, with that attitude there would be no repentance on his behalf, well there was discomfort. That is nothing new in men, when something wrong is done and is pointed out the tendency is to appear hurt and offended. There is no honor or honesty in such acts. When men’s foolishness is shown they become angry, they lose their good sense and become cruel. Asa rose against the prophet; he threw him into prison as if he had been an evildoer. This is the way things are when men lean on someone here on earth. In his condition, far from God, he was more pleased with his flesh rather than

being in communion and serving God. Let us not be arrogant and never lean on the arm of flesh of men, but rather lean on the Almighty God whom we have acknowledged. Let us seek Him every day of our lives and never turn away from Him. Let us always depend on Him in everything so that we will not have to suffer what King Asa suffered. Amen.