By Roy E. Ciampa, Ph.D.
S. Louis and Ann W. Armstrong Professor of Religion, Samford University
Worship Continually
2 Chronicles 15:10–19
Authentic worship flows from a deep awareness of God’s redeeming grace. (10–15)
In preparing for battle Asa had turned to the Lord as the only hope in the face of an overwhelming army (see 2 Chron. 14:8–15). And since the Lord fought for Judah they experienced a remarkable victory instead of decimation and were the beneficiaries of an amazing amount of plunder (2 Chron. 14:14).
With a deep awareness of how blessed they were to have experienced God’s grace and redemption the people gathered to express their gratitude to the Lord in a tangible way, making great sacrifices as a way of representing their wholehearted commitment to the Lord. In our case, as in theirs, nothing could ever be offered to the Lord that hadn’t first been received from Him.
In this instance that was quite obvious since the animals they sacrificed were ones that had only recently become theirs as plunder given to them by the Lord (v. 11). The sacrifices were part of a ceremony in which they recommitted themselves to worship the Lord who had spared their lives and to seek Him “with all their heart and soul” (see v. 12).
The full engagement of hearts, minds and bodies is indicated not only by the number of sacrifices but also by the references to an oath, shouting, loud acclamations, trumpets and horns.
The threatened execution of anyone who refused to seek the Lord (v. 13) seems harsh today but was consistent with what the law prescribed for Israelites who turned their backs on the Lord (see Deut. 13:6–10; 17:2–7).
In the shadow of their recent deliverance from annihilation by the invading army it must have been clear it was only thanks to the Lord they hadn’t already been killed by the invaders.
Such awareness is reflected in verses 14–15, where their enthusiastic worship is expressly said to be offered wholeheartedly by “all Judah” as they eagerly sought God and He “was found by them” (v. 15).
Authentic worship focuses on God alone. (16–19)
While the previous verses portray Judah as united in its wholehearted worship of the Lord verses 16–17 remind us many people were still devoted to various forms of idolatry. Asherah was a Canaanite goddess believed to be the spouse of the chief Canaanite god, El, and mother of other gods.
Ancient Israelites were constantly tempted towards a syncretistic mix of Canaanite and biblical views of God leading people away from the Lord and into idolatry.
Like every generation we face our own forms of idolatry and syncretism today including those that fuse together social or political allegiances and agendas with faith in Christ. Each generation needs to reflect back on the gospel message and remember the differences between Christian worship and cultural values.
It took courage for King Asa to resist the idolatry of his day and to remove the title of “queen mother” or “lady” from his grandmother. His worship of God was not limited to what he did when praising God in the temple but extended to how he lived his life and carried out his royal responsibilities on a day-to-day basis.
While making it clear there was even more Asa and Judah could have done verses 16–19 place the emphasis on the signs of Asa’s true commitment to the Lord and to the kind of authentic worship that focuses on God alone, along with the peace experienced under his godly leadership.
Like Asa we would all do well to reflect on the various allegiances that compete for our devotion and loyalty and make any changes necessary to make sure our worship focuses exclusively on our wonderful Lord.
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