October 12

1 Kings 15 I had a godly grandmother. As a young teen, I remember her asking me, “Jesus asked the Pharisees to explain the Psalm,‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ' If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”—Can you explain that?” My mom started to explain for me when I hesitated. Grandma interrupted, “I want to hear what John has to say.” Her question was not because she wanted an answer. Her question was because she wanted me to learn to think for myself—a very rabbinic way of teaching. Many years later I was spending the summer in Ocean City, New Jersey. She sent me a letter. Within the letter she let me know how she had been praying for me and was still praying for me. I still possess and cherish the letter. A year and a half later she went into the presence of the Lord on Christmas Eve-massive heart attack. The extended family began to suffer many different problems. Our prayer covering was gone. My godly grandmother had a quiet but powerful influence in my/our life. What if her influence had been away from the Lord rather than toward it? What if she had been a Pagan or a Wiccan? Let’s assume that I was emotionally close to here and that she wanted me to follow in her Pagan ways. What would it take to convince me that her Pagan ways were wrong and that I should reject them to follow the Lord? Furthermore, what if she was a public figure and so was I? What if my following the Lord meant a public disgracing of her Pagan ways? It would indeed have been a decision which would have required great moral fortitude and great conviction that following the Lord was the right thing to do. Asa’s grandfather, Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines. By them he had 88 children. I would expect that when one has that many wives, concubines and children that one really could not have a close relationship with all of them. 2 Chronicles 11:21 tells us that Rehoboam loved Maacah, Asa’s grandmother, more than all his wives. She was the Grandaughter of Absalom. She probably followed the religious influence of Absaom’s maternal grandpa, the Canaanite king of Geshur. Worship of Asherah probably ran deep in her family. She certainly whole heartedly embraced it. Asherah was a female goddess and a wife of the god El, sometimes referred to as Baal. Her worship was popular among women in Canaan. She was the goddess of love and fertility, not war. Her worship symbol, a pole, a tree trunk with the branches lopped off was clearly a phallic symbol. She clearly had great influence not only on Rehoboam but also her son and grandson. What would it take to pry him away from the worship of the Canaanite gods to follow the Lord? Furthermore, what would it take for him to not only follow the Lord, but to also remove his grandmother from office because of her rabid devotion of Asherah? I submit that while Asa was certainly not perfect, he had seen enough of the glory of the Lord that the beauty of His glory was all the motivation which he needed to remove her. That is how glorious our Lord is. When we are focused upon His glory, it breaks through even our most fundamental relationships and changes us. Unfortunately, Asa did not stay focused on the glory of the Lord. It resulted in some really poor decisions later in life. But it did sweep in right action in this decision. Help me Lord to remain focused upon you. Keep my feet planted on you as the Solid Rock. Keep me seeing Your glory at all times. I am week and need your help! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john