The kingdom of Judah hadn’t seen this kind of courageous leadership since the days of King David. Asa was only a teenager when he ascended to the throne of David in Jerusalem, but he wouldn’t let youthful inexperience stop him from taking bold and decisive steps to purge Judah of its widespread idolatry and lawlessness.

Asa put God first, above all else—including his own personal wants and desires—and even ahead of his own parents. He abolished all the idols “his fathers had made,” the Bible relates, and he kicked his evil mother off her royal throne.

That is some kind of courageous action for a young Jewish king!

The Bible describes the early days of Asa’s reign as 10 years of quiet (2 Chronicles 14:1). It’s amazing, isn’t it, how much peace and quiet God provides when we diligently work to remove all forms of idolatry and sexual perversion from our environment.

King Asa wisely used these peaceful and prosperous years to plan for the future. He fortified the cities of Judah by constructing massive walls, elaborate gateways and soaring watchtowers (verses 6-7).

He was extremely careful not to forget God during times of plenty, as Moses had warned in Deuteronomy 8. He worked doubly hard in those quiet years. He was like Joseph, who gathered much food during the seven years of fruitful abundance in Egypt.

Then, when trouble finally did come, Asa faithfully trusted in God for deliverance and protection. Instead of relying on his own defenses, he cried out for God to deliver Judah from an incomprehensibly large, million-man army.

“Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power,” Asa prayed. “Help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee” (verse 11).

This shows that if we do our part to build spiritual strength during times of peace and quiet, we can still experience rest in the Lord during periods of trial and test.

God smote the Ethiopian army before all of Judah and then sent the Prophet Azariah to deliver a message of hope—and of warning. He told Asa to remain strong and he promised blessings and rich abundance for faithful obedience.

The prophet declared, “The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you” (2 Chronicles 15:2).

Asa heeded God’s loving instruction and continued on, stamping out abominable acts all across Judah. And just as God had promised, blessings from heaven poured into the land.

These blessings were so visibly obvious that many Israelites to the north started to flee from Samaria to take up residence in Judah. They wanted to experience what it was like to live in a region ruled by a righteous king! They wanted a king like David who did what was right in the eyes of God.

King Baasha of Israel was alarmed by the mass migration of his own people. In order to halt these desertions, Baasha fortified Israel’s southern border, turning the city of Ramah, located just six miles from Jerusalem, into a military stronghold!

Judah’s King Asa was deeply distressed by this provocative act. Israel’s army was right at Judah’s doorstep. In Asa’s mind, this was an act of war!

How would this righteous king respond?

Incredibly, after a long history of walking by faith and trusting God, King Asa gathered a large store of luxurious treasure from God’s house in order to finance a shady military alliance with Syria.

Instead of looking to God for the solution, Asa paid a Gentile king to get rid of the problem!

At first, this unholy alliance seemed to work out perfectly. Syria invaded Israel, overthrew numerous cities, and forced Israel to evacuate its military stronghold. Ramah fell back into Judah’s hands.

But these seemingly fortuitous events actually marked the beginning of a sad and tragic end to a once righteous king who had devoted most of his life to faithfully serving God. God immediately sent the Prophet Hanani to correct His wayward king—to remind him of Judah’s glorious history with God, including its miraculous deliverance from the Ethiopians.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars” (2 Chronicles 16:9). Sadly, this loving correction from God only infuriated the aging king. He angrily locked away God’s prophet in a prison house and then unleashed a violent persecution against his own people (verse 10).

Not long after this, in the 39th year of his reign, Asa was stricken with a deadly disease. During his illness, the Bible relates, Asa refused to seek God’s miraculous intervention, turning instead to the feeble assistance provided by men.

Within two years, Asa died, bringing an ignominious end to the short second act of a kingly reign that had been noted for legendary works.

“And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel” (verse 11). Yes, both acts are recorded—the first and the last.

In the first act, Asa was on fire for God. He brought Judah out of religious confusion and purged its cities of lawlessness. He cleaned house in Judah—and it prospered and grew. When the Ethiopians came to conquer, Asa cried out to God, who delivered Judah by smiting the Ethiopians.

But toward the end of his life, in the second act, Asa had drifted far from God. This didn’t happen overnight. Over the course of many months, perhaps years, Asa had been steadily losing contact with God. His faith weakened. And when political pressures intensified—when personal trials and tests increased—he turned to men for help, rather than God.

King Asa is no different than many of God’s own people in these latter days—brethren of God who are characterized as being spiritually lukewarm (Revelation 3:14-17). They no longer have that burning zeal and unshakable faith they had at the start of their conversion. They don’t pour out their hearts to God in effectual fervent prayer like they used to. Their deep and enduring love for digging into the fascinating truth that is buried in God’s Word has waxed icy cold. Fasting, fellowship, meditation—these all have fallen by the wayside.

Has any of this happened to you? Have you neglected God and allowed the disease of spiritual laxness to spread into your life? Have you, perhaps after getting off to such a strong start, slowed way down—or maybe come to a complete stop?

If so, then take heed and learn from the unhappy lesson of a Jewish king whose first works were much greater than the last. For Asa, it didn’t have to end that way—and neither does it have to end this way for you. Like Asa—who could have repented, but didn’t—you can turn back to God, even at the very end of your life, and finish the race the same way you started.

You can go back and “do the first works,” as it says in Revelation 2:5, while there is still time. But you had better hurry. Jesus Christ is coming quickly.