A Bad Ending

 

    Every leader has a beginning and an end.  The beginning is figuring things out and what do to.  The ending is very different.  You will not have all the answers because things are constantly changing, but it is your responsibility to make sure that your successor knows the job.  The next person needs to be prepared.  It can take years investing into a few people to make sure that it is done right.  It is important to never let the power get to your head.

    King Asa reigned Judah for 41 years.  When he got older, he was not interested in taking risk.  He wanted to make sure his nation was secure, so he took the money from the treasure to buy King Ben-Hadad of Aram as an ally.  Now here is where it gets a little tricky.  Judah and Israel were not exactly enemies, but they were not friends either.  They were frenemies.  Ben- Hadad was the ally of Israel until King Asa secured him.

    King Baasha of Israel was not too happy about the changing of hands.  It is too be expected, but there really was nothing that he could do about it.  He was forced to stop his work because he no longer had the protection to avoid destruction.  King Asa raided where he had been working and took the materials to build Geba and Mizpah.

    God was not happy with King Asa was supposed to rely on Him for the peace and security, not another person, land, or money.  He decided to get Asa's attention by using war to strip his secure ending.  Asa, had dropped the spiritual connectivity ball somewhere along the line.  He now was letting his temper have control, so when Hanani gave him the news from God he was thrown into prison.  He began to treat some people brutally.

    King Asa developed a foot disease in the last two years of his life.   Something that God could have easy healed.  Yet again Asa relied on humans instead of going to God.  His last five years were turbulent and when he died it was not as it should have been.  It overshadowed all the good he did in the beginning.

2 Chronicles 16