When the Boogeyman Comes

Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 16:1-10

“And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: ‘Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.’”—2 Chronicles 16:7

The Boogeyman is that imaginary creature who lurks under the bed, hides in the closet, and slithers out of the shadowy corners to torment children in the middle of the night. A child’s reaction to a “Boogeyman attack” is a very telling moment. That first response, name they scream out, and place they run to is affirmation of their person, place, or thing of ultimate safety.

While he was no child quivering in a dark bedroom, Asa, king of Judah had his own “Boogeyman attack.” In the first thirty-five years of his reign, Asa tore down the idols in the land, instituted spiritual reforms, and fortified the land against potential invaders. When a million man Ethiopian (Cushite) army came against Judah, Asa sought God, who gave Judah victory over a numerically superior force (2 Chronicles 14:9-13). Asa ruled a secure kingdom under the hand of God.

Then Baasha, king of Israel, fortified the region on Judah’s border, isolating Judah from being reinforced. Like that child seeing something move in the shadows, Asa sees a Boogeyman in Baasha. What was Asa’s response, his source of safety? Despite God’s previous deliverance from a million man army, Asa chose to send silver and gold from the house of the LORD and the king’s treasury to secure a treaty with the king of Syria to attack Israel and draw Baasha away from Judah’s border.

The maneuver worked but at a cost beyond silver and gold. Hanani was sent to condemn Asa for putting his trust in the king of Syria instead of God. When fear gripped his heart most, Asa chose not to seek safety and protection in his God, but relied on his own statesmanship and wealth to secure the safety of his kingdom.

The Boogeyman is more than a child’s imaginary tormentor, it is the situation that brings fear and anxiety to our adult lives. Whether it is a family, medical, relationship, financial, or other matter, each of us faces those dark moments of dread and fear. The question is what is our source of safety, comfort and peace in those moments? Like Asa, do we rely on our ingenuity, material goods, and associations to save us? Or do we trust the only one who is for certain to be our protection from all that could befall us, God?    

Lesson to Remember: When our greatest fear lurks in the shadows, who we turn to first tells us who we trust most in life.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?”—Psalm 27:1