Why does God troubling us with every kind of distress?

“One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress” (2 Chronicles 15: 6).

What is "reform"?  What is the reform that many pastors are crying for?  According to Pastor Seo Moon-kang, who have translated the various works of the Puritan's books in his lifetime and introduced them to this world, said that reformists are those who want to reform themselves first and foremost (Internet).  I totally agree.  How can we reform our homes and the church without reforming ourselves?  So what must we do to reform ourselves?  First of all, we must go back to the Scripture.  And we must live the Word of God.  That was what happened during the 16th century Reformation.  Therefore, if we really want reformation, we must return to the Word of God.  And we must live in obedience to the word of God.

Today's text 2 Chronicles 15:6 is the word of the prophet Azariah when the Spirit of God came upon him (v. 1) that he proclaimed to King Asa who was reforming and to all Judah and Benjamin (v. 2).  This is what the prophet Azariah: “…  because God was troubling them with every kind of distress” (v. 6b).  I started reading from Chronicles 15: 1 last night, and then my gaze stopped and meditated in the words of the second half of this verse 6.  Then I thought, 'Why did God trouble the people of Judah with every kind of distress?’  I wondered why the God of love troubled the people of God, Judas and Benjamin, with every kind of distress.  So I read the context of verse 6 again.  When I did so, I thought that the reason was verse 3: “For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law.”  In other words, the reason God troubled the people of Israel with every kind of distress was because they were without the true God, without the priests to teach and without the law for a long time.  I didn’t understand well.  How did the Israelites who have believed in God live without the true God for a long time?  Weren’t God, the priest and the law very important to the Israelites?  Then how could they live without God, without the priest to teach and without the law for a long time?  I think the reason was idol.  We can know this by what King Asa did after he heard from Prophet Azariah, “But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded” (v. 7).  He took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim (v. 8).  He even deposed his grandmother Maacha from her position as queen mother, because she mad a repulsive Asherah pole.  And he cut the pole down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley (v. 16).  In the end, God troubled the Israelites with every kind of distress because of their sins of idolatry.  That was why in those days, it wasn’t safe to travel about because all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil (v. 5).  “But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him …” (v. 4).  I think this is the providence of God.  God troubled the Israelites, who were without the true God, without the priest to teach, without the law and committing the sins of idolatry, so that they might return to God and seek God.  And God made King Asa to take courage through Prophet Azariah so that King Asa removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim (v. 8).  In addition to that, God made King Asa to make a covenant to seek the Lord the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul (v. 12).  So all who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman (v. 13).  After all, the people of Judah had sworn it wholeheartedly.  They sought God eagerly, He was found by them.  “So the Lord gave them rest on every side” (v. 15).  So there was no more war again until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign (v. 19).

We who wants God’s reformation must return the Word of God.  And we who want to live according to the Word of God must repent our sins.  We must repent our sins of loving and serving idols rather than God as we have lived without God, without His Word and without a Bible teacher who teaches us the Word of God.  We must turn from our sins.  We must return to God.  And we must seek God.  As we receive the Word for our true God and the teaching from our true Shepherd Jesus Christ, we must live for the glory of God by believing in only Jesus Christ.  To do so, we must realize that when God troubles us with every kind of distress (Jer. 10:18).  We must realize that we have sinned against God.  Therefore, we must not sin more against God like King Ahaz (28:22). Instead, we must seek God like King Manasseh and completely humble ourselves before God (33:12).  I hope and pray that we may humble ourselves before God when we go through every kind of distress.