1 Kings 15:9-15
"9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, 10 and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 11 And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done. 12 He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 13 He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. 15 And he brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels."
Asa's was a long reign, 41 years, and one of the best in Judah's history. One can almost feel the dynamic of grace throbbing in the words in 11, 'Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord', and it is this that explains the purposeful vigour of the following verses. The sacred historian gives his account in summary form, but we are able to gather a good deal more from the parallel record in 2 Chronicles 14. A comparison of the two passages is very helpful and revealing. Asa's strong and resolute stand against idolatry did not even exempt his own mother (13) from the godly discipline he imposed upon the land in his efforts to rid it of its evil ways. On any estimate, that was a brave and costly thing to do. It was as true then as in our Lord's day that 'a man's foes are those of his own household', and consecration meant, then as now, dying to our nearest and dearest when they come between us and highest dedication to the Lord. 2 Chronicles 14 gives us a glimpse of Asa's spiritual calibre. His prayer in 11 does much to explain his steadfastness of purpose - 'We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go' - nobler words than these could scarcely be found in the whole of the Old Testament. Well would it be for the world of our time if its leaders were to be guided and actuated by such a spirit!