II Chronicles 14:1-16:14; Romans 14:1-23

Thought from Today’s Old Testament Passage: [2 Chron. 14] In Asa there was a break in the continuity of naughtiness which so regularly characterized the succession of kings. His was a long reign, and though not characterized by the pronounced reforms which obtained under future kings, it did give the nation some glimpses of a better order. He commenced by breaking down false worship so far as he was able, and as a result the land had "quiet before him." He took advantage of the peaceful years to build and wall the cities. In the time of peril resulting from the invasion of the Ethiopians, the king’s cry to God was answered by a signal deliverance. How unfailingly the patience of God is made to appear in these records! The repetition of the fact in notes of exposition becomes almost monotonous. Yet, after all, is it not the monotony of the perfect music of those who with veiled faces chant the story of God’s holiness and love? The condition of the chosen people as a whole at this time was terrible. Yet immediately man or nation returned to God with repentance and amendment, He responded with pardon and deliverance. There is a limit to His forbearance; but if this history teaches anything it is that the limit is set where by the act of the sinner, be that sinner man or nation, there is no possibility of return. God never ratifies the hardening of any heart until the hardness is absolute through the action of the sinner. G. Campbell Morgan, An Exposition of the Whole Bible (Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company), 1959, p. 175.