None of have life without problems of one kind or another.  The devil delights in driving down our road of life in his dump truck while his helpers are busy in back shoveling out potholes, dead ends and detours.  So are the days of our lives, with our paths strewn with problems.  Many people find themselves in trouble as they hit a rough spot in life, and the natural thing for them to do is to try to solve their problems on their own.  But when they find themselves overwhelmed by the problem, sooner or later, they cry out to the LORD for help.  Well, you know the LORD has every solution for every problem, no matter how severe it is. So the obvious solution is to turn our problems over to the LORD for Him to solve.  Why don’t we just do that and make our lives simple?

I think it’s a matter of pride: and I recall a commercial on TV from many years back, where a mother and her daughter are in the kitchen making something, and the mother is helping, and the daughter says, “Mother, PLEASE! I’d rather do it myself!”  Well, the LORD brought that to my remembrance just now for a reason, I’m sure.  We would far rather go on suffering with a problem, rather than humble ourselves and go to the LORD, and say, “LORD, I just can’t seem to solve this problem, and I need Your help.”  The LORD ready and able to help us, but until we give the problem to Him, it is still OUR problem.  And our lives seem to be about what we can hold onto,  not what we can give away, even if it’s things we don’t WANT to hold onto, like sickness and disease.

Most of the night last night I was meditating about King Asa.  Maybe you’re familiar with his story, maybe not.  Let’s have a look at a HUGE problem he faced, in 2 Chronicles 14:8-15:

And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valour.
And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the Lord came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them. They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

Ok, see how the LORD delivered King Asa, even though he was outnumbered nearly two to one?  Did God tell King Asa to solve his own problem? No, the LORD brought them deliverance.  So far so good, right?  But the story is far from over.  Let’s pick it back up again in chapter 15:1,

15 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

Moving further on to verses 12-15 we find the following:
And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.

War broke out again, only THIS time King Asa didn’t seek to the LORD as he did before, but tried to solve the problem on his own.  Let’s see how that worked out for him in chapter 16:
16 In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.

Do you see where King Asa sought the LORD in all this?  Neither do I.  What did the LORD think of that?

And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

It appears to me that the LORD wasn’t too happy about what Asa did, and furthermore, Asa was angry about being corrected of the LORD, and threw the prophet in prison, and went about troubling people.  Would God have stood for King Asa as He had before, had Asa sought Him as in the beginning?  Sure, because the LORD is always good for His promises.  Moving on, have a look at this in verses 12-13:

And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.

Here we see the premature end of the reign of King Asa, who started out wonderfully, trusting God for solving his problems, to forsaking God and turning to his own wisdom and the help of people, instead of remaining true to God. And of course, God warned him earlier, The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

The LORD told me last night to write this today, as a WORD OF WARNING to someone who will read this.  You know who you are.  It is written in 2 Corinthians 1:20,
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
I have delivered the Word of the LORD per His instructions.  What you do with it is up to you, but I hope you will realize the LORD is pleading with you to stop trusting in man, and put your trust back in the LORD so He may deliver you, as He did at the first.