Asa receives a prophecy from the Lord saying that “The Lord is with you while you are with Him” (verse 2b). So Asa sets out to ensure that ALL Judah is with Him.

The kingdom of Judah has just experienced a MIGHTY move of the Lord. He defeated the Ethiopians before them and gave them a great victory, including MUCH spoils. On the way home Asa is met with a message from the Lord. “If you seek Me with your whole heart I promise I will be found by you.” Can you imagine any better message from the Lord? I can’t. Even if He were to promise me the all the riches of the world, NOTHING would be better that KNOWING He would be with me.

Asa felt the same way. He went to work right away making SURE that there was nothing in the way between Judah and God. He tore down ALL the idols in the land of Judah and Benjamin that had been set up from Solomon on down. He cleaned out all the towns that he had taken when he battled Ethiopia. And he swore every man, woman and child to following the Lord. NONE were exempt. He paid special attention to his own house and removed the “queen mother” (his grandmother) from her place of honor because she made a carving of an idol for herself. Her ways were NOT going to stand in the kingdom devoted to the Lord, no matter who she was. Asa not only removed her from her seat but utterly destroyed the image she made.