In 2 Chronicles 14 we see the story of a king named Asa. We are told two things about Asa that thrill my heart:

14:2 says, “And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.”
14:11 says, “And Asa cried to the Lord his God, ‘O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you…’”

In spring 2014, my wife Tish and I found out that we were pregnant. We began to make our list of boy names and girls names until we were sure of which name we’d go with for either gender. We were thrilled when we found out we were having a boy and we never doubted our name choice.

Our son is named Asa. We named him Asa for two reasons. Asa is my great grandfather’s name on my father’s side. He was a godly man. We also named him Asa because of the two verses above. It is our prayer that our son would do what is right in the eyes of the Lord his God, and that he would cry out to God as his helper, relying on God all the days of his life.

Half way through our pregnancy, we were told that Asa had clubfoot. Clubfoot is a birth defect that causes the tendons in the leg, ankle, and foot to be tighter and shorter than should be, causing the bottom of the foot to be turned inward and up. Clubfoot is usually treatable. In fact, the doctor told us that if you are going to have a birth defect, this is one of the best to have. Still, I took it incredibly hard. I remember crying out to God in frustration, anger, and confusion for him allowing this to happen. I believe that he formed my son together, thus, this was in his control. Even verses from Scripture, such as John 9:3, would come to mind, declaring that such a defect is God’s design for his glory. But I was struggling with trusting in this.

The days, weeks, and months went on and we neared Asa’s birth. We knew that we were in for a 3-4 year process of treatments, including full-leg casts beginning his first week of life outside the womb.

It was only a few weeks until Asa’s birth when someone pointed out to me 2 Chronicles 14:12. Leading up to this verse King Asa had ceased doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He had failed to trust God as his help. In 14:12 it says, “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians.” 

We had no idea when we named our son Asa, that he would have a disease of the foot. Perhaps it is simply coincidence. However, I learned something that day. I learned that it is easy to turn from trusting in the Lord, even when you have trusted in him for years. All it takes is removing your hope in him and placing it in yourself. In this verse I found God calling me to trust in the Lord in my son’s condition and God’s plan, a calling to hope in God in all of my life, and pleading with God that my Asa would not be like King Asa; who did was right in the eyes of the Lord when he was young, but lost hope throughout the years.

May I, and my son after me, trust in the Lord all the days of our lives.