Tuesday, March 21, 2017

2 Chronicles 33

Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,  and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. vv.12-13

Read chapter 33
Manasseh is probably one of the most wicked kings of Judah, crazy that he's the son of one of the most righteous kings of Judah, King Hezekiah.  He has restored everything his father destroyed.  He brought back idol worship and did horrible things to his own sons.  He doesnt listen to God so the Lord delivers Manasseh into the hands of the Assyrians and is tortured for who knows how long. But there's something pretty amazing that we get in this chapter about Manasseh that we don't get at all, not even a glimpse, in the account of him and his reign in 2 Kings 21 (his captivity isn't even recorded there).  That something new is that Manasseh turned to the Lord and humbled himself.  Awesome right?!  I know it can be hard sometimes when someone you know is so evil that if they say they've become believer now it's hard to imagine or think they really do believe or maybe hard to believe that God still gives them the gift of eternal life for how wicked they once were.  Let's get past our pride and selfishness and thinking we know better than God, for we are no better a sinner than the next.  Sucks that it had to take Manasseh to be tortured so that he'd turn to God, but if that's what it took than I bet he wouldnt change that at all once he's in the Kingdom and realizes what he could have forfeited.  Manasseh may have been wicked his whole life but he finished well in the sight of the Lord, even if man never saw (King's account).  Who is someone you'd never believe would accept Jesus as Lord?  What if they did, how would you react?

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