Evening star., 1939-07-22

Our personality Tor tOdayS study
is Asa, good son of bad father
and bad grandfather. The folly
of the latter, King Rehoboam, had
lost two-thirds of his kingdom, and
his son Abijah, who succeeded him
for short reign, followed in his
footsteps. So Asa had inherited bad
blood from his father and grand
father. But he had also the blood
of Solomon and David in his veins
and the tradition of their character
and religion.
Nobody is doomed by his ances-
try; the science which so declares is
false. Bad and good mingle in the
blood of all of us. Our sovereign
wills may incline us to the best or
the worst of our inheritance In
this new Western world we see on
every hand noble and effective men
and women who have sprung from
the most unfavorable beginnings. I
know an old preacher whose ante
cedents were worse than poor; the
only effect of this that I have seen
in him is tendency toward aristo-
craticness and snobbery! 1t is sheer
pagan fatalism to assume that any,
body comes into the world COM
pletely doomed by his forebears.
After Rehoboam and Abijah we find
good King Asa.
Getting Down to Basis.
Asa had more sense than many a
ruler and official today. He perceived,
as multitudes of moderns do not,
that the one essential, determinative
factor in the life of a people is its
loyalty to the living God On every
hand we are trying reforms, whereas
it is religion we need. 1t is the springs
Of character that must be changed.
Christian officials do not graft or
wink at corruption. Christian busi-
neSsmen do not treat their employees
unfairly. Christian men do not cheat
the merchant or the income tax col
lector. Christian citizens are loyal
to their flag and country. Christian
neighbors help one another.
In short, when person is in right
relations with God he is also in right
relations with everybody else Asa
saw that Judas basic sin was its
departure from the true worship of
Jehovah, and its turning to heather
idols. Therefore, he entered upon a
drastic campaign to extirpate idol
worship from the nation. 1t was a
huge task. 1t even necessitated
burning his mothers hideous idol,
and depriving her of authority. We
are left to imagine the opposition he
met from powerful devotees of the
pagan cults-the entrenched priest
hood, the vested commercial inter-
ests, and all the forms of fanatical
idolatry. But Asa's heart did not fail
him, and he made a good job of it.
On the surface of the story lies
the stern admonition to us of today
to go and do likewise. If we had
wisdom adequate for our present
crises we would be restoring relig-
ion to its rightful place in the Ma
ton. Instead of joining new pa
trlotlc societies, and attending hys-
tercal meetings, men and women
would be giving themselves to the
simple task of gathering young peo-
Pile into the Sunday school and
church. They would be sitting down
in conferences upon practical ways
of making their local churches more
effective. And they would tax their
brains and devotion and activity to
give God the right of way over every
department of our common life.
Like Cromwell in later ages, Asa's
motto seems to have been the equiv
alent of Trust in God, and keep
your powder dry" He cleaned up
and built up Judah. Our lesson text
contains a long recital of the meas
ures of public defense that he put
through. He fortified the cities and
established measures of prepared
ness against the day when he should
have to resist oppression. $50 they
built and prospered," runs the rec
ord.
Preparedness is always the way
of wisdom, although it may easily
be turned into unwise militarism.
The sort of paciism that will not
defend its most precious heritage
gets scant support from Scripture.
There must be physical rearma-
ment in every nation that would
survive today: but there must also
be moral rearmament.
Old Names Come Back.
There was no Suez Canal in Asas
day; SO the land bridge to Africa
was open. Over this came an in
vading horde of Ethiopians. We
know that ancient Oriental figures
must always be accepted with res
ervations; but the army of Zerah,
the Ethiopian, was vastly superior
to that of Asa. In deep devotion
and faith, Asa cried unto Jehovah
fog help, and he was succored. Even