Butt Kicking

Last night was a bad night, all around. I was supposed to be in the capitol city for work but the roads were bad (Jody, I so wanted to call you but opted to take the kids to see the great g's) and I opted to play it safe and stay home. Ryan's plans for a very quiet evening were a little disturbed and he was a little piturbed. Trying to focus on the reason for this post, I'll skip all the details even though I'd really like to get it off my chest. All these little things that were no big deal by themselves kept happening one right after another. And finally I'd had enough and stormed upstairs and crawled in bed. Knowing that my life in general has been stressed and also knowing full well that it has been my lack of time in the Word and being quiet before God, I avoided the light switch and grabbed my bible. Not even knowing where to begin, I opened it up and decided I would read whatever page I opened to. It was 2 Chronicles 14 and 15. Immediately my mood brightened when I read the subtitle and realized it was about king Asa. Curious, because I have a buddy that named his child Asa, I started right in reading. Now, I was reading The Message version which is a paraphrase but a little light reading was good considering my attitude. I started with chapter 15 first and here's a few things I read:

• God will stick with you as long as you stick with him. If you look for him he will let himself be found
• when they were in trouble and got serious, and decided to seek God, the God of Israel, God let himself be found
• Asa...took a deep breath, then rolled up his sleeves, and went to work
• they bound themselves in a covenant to seek God, the God of their fathers, wholeheartedly, holding nothing back

And then I went back and read chapter 14 because it also pertained to Asa:

• Asa was a good king. He did things right in God's eyes
• God kept the peace
• [asa said:] We have this peaceful land because we sought God; he has given us rest from all troubles

And then on to chapter 16 to get the rest of the story of Asa

• "Because you went for help to the king of Aram and didn't ask God for help, you've lost a victory over the army of the king of Aram. Didn't the Ethiopians and Libyans come against you with superior forces, completely outclassing you with their chariots and cavalry? But you asked God for help and he gave you the victory. God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him. You were foolish to go for human help when you could have had God's help. Now you're in trouble—one round of war after another."

How much am I like Asa? Thinking I can do it on my own? I can't, I know I can't. I know that things work out best when I let God be in control. So, what am I doing? God is always on the alert, constantly looking out for people who are totally committed to him! Yeah God, I'm sorry for being the foolish one and trying to do it on my own when I could have your help. Please help. Like my mom said when I was growing up, I need an attitude adjustment!