Prayer MattersSample

Call Upon the Lord

It’s amazing how many people choose to involve God so little in their lives. When it comes to decisions about business, family, career, and the weightier matters of life, they seek out qualified counsel, yet they never bend a knee before the King of the universe who is longing to help them. He desires to be glorified through our lives yet many times we deprive Him of that right.

The Bible tells us that Baasha, the King of Israel, came against Judah in war. So Asa, the King of the besieged Judah, “brought silver and gold out of the treasuries of the house of the Lord and sent them to Ben-hadad King of Syria … saying, ‘Let there be a league between me and you … break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.’” (2 Chronicles 16:2-3). The Syrians, whose allegiance Asa bought with gold from the Lord’s house, rescued the southern kingdom from Baasha, but the Lord was not pleased. God wanted to be Judah’s defender and deliverer, but instead Asa had given that opportunity to the Syrians. Because of fear, Asa chose to call upon, and put his trust in, the king of Syria rather than on the Lord.

Asa’s story ends when he is buried in the tomb that he dug for himself. In essence, Asa dug his own grave and put the final nail in his own coffin because he insisted on calling upon the arm of flesh rather than on the Lord. Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD.’”

How often has God stood by ready, willing, and able to help us, but we never turned to Him or gave Him an opportunity to intervene and bring glory to Himself through our crisis. As a result, we have often forfeited peace and struggled under the load of unnecessary burdens—all because we did not inquire of the Lord. What’s worse, an opportunity to bring glory to God was lost. I wonder how many Christians are suffering today because they didn’t trust in and seek the Lord in the midst of their trial. Let’s be those who call upon the Lord.