Lifted Vision Ministry

Greetings loved ones! In today’s scripture, let’s take a look at an interesting interaction from the Bible that occurred between a seer and a King 🙂

-2 Chronicles 16:7-
And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.

Let’s take a look at the two VIP people in this interaction today! First up, we have Asa, King of Judah! He was a *fairly* good king who sought after God (at least more than His father). He was also a descendant of David meaning that he is part of the blood line of Jesus Christ!

The second person is Hanani, who was a man of God and described as a, “seer” in the scriptures. Now, what is a seer you may ask? Well in Biblical context:

“A seer is one who sees with spiritual eyes. He perceives the meaning of that which seems obscure to others; therefore he is an interpreter and clarifier of God’s eternal truth.”

Now from this interaction in Chronicles, it seems that Hanai is relaying a message of rebuke from God to the King. Now in order to have a complete understanding, let’s get some background information regarding this interaction. We need to know: why was Hanani sent to King Asa to send him a message from God? Why didn’t God tell King Asa himself the message he had to share?

Well, many times the kings of ancient history would have to rely on spiritual people to communicate messages from God to them. This was because God would often choose not to speak directly to kings during those times, especially messages of judgement. Another time God would send a seer or prophet to kings would be because the king chose not listen to God’s voice. God spoke with the King, but the King refused to listen. In that case, God would send someone in the flesh to relay the message to the King, due to the King’s stubbornness.

Not everyone could communicate with and have unlimited access to God the Father back then either. Only the people that God chose to use would be the ones to deliver His messages. God often appointed specific messengers, prophets, pastors and every day people to do very specific missions. God would give his people different messages and divine appointments and send them into various different types of situations and to different people. This was all done according to God’s perfect will and for very specific reasons of His choosing (that we will probably never fully understand since we are not God!).

God uniquely and perfectly chose the right man for the job, who would be obedient to share His words with whom He had intended. (Side note: Besides showing us who Jesus really is, the entire Bible is essentially showing us how God, since the beginning of time, delights in using ordinary people to do miraculous things)! We can learn so much from the ways in which the people of the Bible interacted with God and others. This is King Asa’s and Hanani’s story.

So Hanani, being filled with God’s word and moving in the authority that was given to him, was sent by God to King Asa to talk with him regarding a decision that he had made recently that was going to have negative consquences. Hanani was commissioned by God to give King Asa a warning about what was to come because King Asa had mistakenly chosen to rely on man’s advice over relying on the voice of God.

One thing we can learn from King Asa in this scripture is that we should never put other people’s opinions about our life over God’s opinions. What God deems important; what God deems is true; what God deems in general, is the best advice that you could ever listen to!

-1 Corinthians 1:25-
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

King Asa didn’t turn to God when He needed advice, and it hurt him gravely. He listened to the counsel of another King and completely left God out of the equation. Now it’s not wrong to seek the counsel of other people, for even the Bible says:

-Proverbs 11:14-
Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

However, if we rely on our friends and family for advice, instead of going to God, then grave consequences can result. Leaving God out of anything that we do in life is a quick recipe for disaster. Friends, don’t miss the moment that God is trying to show you. Don’t skip the encounter with God and then expect everything to just, “work out somehow.” God is calling us unto Himself and can and will show us all things if we just take the time to sit at His feet and listen to what He is saying.

Hanani reminded King Asa of the time before when he rightly consulted God regarding the things of war, and how God honored his request, assisted him and allowed him to get the victory. He reminded him of the benefits of relying on God and how God is righteous, good and a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). If God helped King Asa before, then why didn’t King Asa rely on God again when a new problem came? Sometimes, we do things in our own way, in our own strength and forget to be in union with God. However, that is not the way to live a blessed life friends. That is when we make ourselves our own god and that is when we begin wading in dangerous waters.

Before Jesus, who is God, came to earth and died for our sins, the human race had limited access to God. But now, there is good news! Jesus, who is God, came down from heaven to earth 2,000 years ago, lived a perfect, sin-less life, and died on a cross and bore the sin of the world.

Why is that significant you may ask? Because friends, it changed everything about how we interact with God! Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. He did that so that we could have a relationship with God again. Now, the door to accessing God, talking with God and communing with God is wide open; it’s all thanks to Jesus. To talk with God all you have to do is call upon His name.

-Romans 10:13-
for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Say, “Jesus, I want to talk with you” then just listen. God is a talker! He will begin talking with you if you only turn your attention to Him. To have a relationship with Him, simply ask!

-Romans 10:9-
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Thanks for reading my blog friends! Feel free to leave a comment below! I’d love to hear your thoughts! God bless you all and may God’s peace reign in your hearts.

-Aly