Fully Rely On God February 17, 2014
Severalyears ago I met some missionaries to Costa Rica whose family symbol wasa frog. It was printed on their prayer cards. They mentioned it in theirpresentations. They even handed out silicon bracelets with F.R.O.G. imprintedon them as reminders to pray for their family. F.R.O.G. was an acronym for“Fully Rely On God,” and the frog was their family symbol because it evokedtheir family slogan. I’ve since come to learn that F.R.O.G. gear is a wholemini-industry within the Christian marketing subculture. But back then it wasintriguing and memorable.
It was somemorable, in fact, that I thought of them one morning last week during mydevotional time. I was reading about Judah’s King Asa, who manages to beone of the few good kings in 2 Chronicles. But toward the end of his reign, heran into a problem and made it worse with a poor executive decision. Underthreat from enemy King Baasha, Asa sent a big-money bribe to the Syrian king tobreak his alliance with Baasha and instead support Asa. (Got all that?!) Itappears to pay off for Asa, because Baasha withdraws the threat, Asa leads amilitary advance of his own, and the kingdom of Judah advances itspolitical interests. Overall, Judah’sking was quite pleased.
But Godwasn’t pleased. A little-known prophet confronts Asa: “Because you relied onthe king of Syria and didnot rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not theEthiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen?Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. For the eyesof the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong supportto those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this,for from now on you will have wars.” (2 Chr 16:7-9). Asa forgot to F.R.O.G.
God says Heactively searches the earth for people who fully rely on Him, and He promisesto give them powerful divine support. In fact, the F.R.O.G. attitude is sopleasing to God, He equates it with keeping a blameless heart toward Him.
The lessonfor us? Don’t trade away the strong support of God for the temporary appearanceof success and stability. Fully Rely On God.