strenuous.

"Lilies have no sin
Leading them astray,
No false heart within
That would them bewray,
Nought to tempt them in
An evil way;
And if canker come and blight,
Nought will ever put them right.

"But good and ill, I know,
Are in my being blent,
And good or ill may flow
From mine environment;
And yet the ill, laid low,
May better the event;
Careless lilies, happy ye!
But careless life were death to me."

II.

The courage of Asa had as its root confidence in God, and this is shown
more fully in the narrative which appears in the Second Book of
Chronicles than in the First Book of Kings.

His reforming work--carried out with ruthless vigour--naturally raised
up adversaries on every side. In the court itself Maachah and her
party were implacable. Outside it the idolatrous priests, and all
their hangers-on, whose vested interests were abolished, were plotting
and scheming against the king. But Asa was imperturbable, because he
had found God to be his refuge and strength. The man who really fears
God finds the fear of his fellows thereby cast out.

To Jehovah, therefore, the brave king brought all his difficulties.
This was beautifully exemplified when he found himself confronted with
an overwhelming force of Ethiopians, for then "_Asa cried unto the Lord
his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with
many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we
rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord,
Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee_." Prayer was the
secret of his strength, and in it we also may find all the help we need
in meeting our discouragements--the ignorance which tries our patience,
the indifference to God which nothing seems to stir, the vice which
holds its victim as an octopus, the sin which is as subtle as it is
strong. Against them all we have no power, and may well pray as Asa
did. "Lord, help us." Then He will fulfil the promise, "_When the
enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a
standard against him_."

III.

After his great deliverance Asa renewed his consecration. The need for
its renewal shows that in character and conduct he was far from being
all that he ought to have been. He was not "_perfect_" in that sense.
His earnestness cooled down. Through his carelessness the "_high
places_" were re-erected. He seems to ha