Daily Devotions
Leaving the Door Open for Idolatry
Reading for April 18th: 1 Kings 15-17
But the high places were not taken away.
1 Kings 15:14
Asa is one of the good kings of Judah. He walked in the ways of his father David (v 11). He put away idolatry (v 12). He removed his mother from being queen because of her idolatrous ways (v 13). He restored some of the sacred gifts to the temple (v 15).
However, for all the good things that are said about Asa, there is this one blemish on his record. He left the high places.
We are introduced to the high places back in chapter 11 where it says that Solomon built altars on these high places for his wives to worship their gods.
We may presume that Asa did not allow worship to foreign gods on these high places since he was eliminating idolatry everywhere else. However, even if they were worshiping the true God on these high places they were told to only worship Jehovah in the place where He had put his name, and that was in Jerusalem (Deut 12; 1 Kings 9:3).
What this did, in effect, is leave the door open for idolatry to return. If the pagan ways of worshiping remained, then the influence of pagan idolatry remained. True restoration involves worship in spirit and worship in truth.
Asa's restoration came up short. What about your life? Have you completely removed idolatry from your heart? As you seek to put God first in your life, are there still some high places that remain? What still needs to be removed from your heart?
Father, help us to recognize and remove all the high places from our lives.
