Scripture
2 Chronicles 33: 10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. 12 In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. 13 And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.
14 Afterward he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate and encircling the hill of Ophel; he also made it much higher. He stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah.
15 He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the Lord, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. 16 Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.
Thoughts
Do we believe repentance works? It is easy to make judgments about what someone has done and decide they are too far gone, there is no turning back, and see no redemption possible. And yet the bible is filled with chapter and verse of instances of egregiously awful actions that you expect the person to be toast, immediately roasted into a charcoal briquette, but…. They repent, they humble themselves before God and He acquits them, He resurrects their life from the chaos of self-destruction to a God-directed righteousness.
Manasseh’s reign as king of Israel was mainly a series of despicable decisions that drove the kingdom further away from God and into the clutches of pagan worship, including child sacrifice. (2 Chronicles 33:6 He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.)
Yes, it took Manasseh being hauled off in chains to recognize that maybe he needed to connect with the creator of all things, but he did. And amazingly to most of us, God did what he says throughout the bible–if we humble ourselves before God he will forgive us and heal our land. God freed Manasseh from his captors, and Manasseh, with God’s direction, rebuilt the outer wall, removed the foreign gods and all the associated accoutrements of worship with them.
Reflection
Who do we see in the world, or in our life, that seems to be beyond redemption? Take a moment this week to bring them before God in prayer. What in our life do we see as unredeemable, unforgivable? Put it at the foot of the cross, and say a prayer of thanksgiving that as hard as it is to believe sometimes, God does listen, he does heal, he does forgive.
Personal Prayer
Lord, I confess I would prefer to not think about the dump truck loads of hate and anger some of our leaders in government and business spew out and churn up among their followers. I pray that you remind me, daily, to bring them before you, to ask for your intercession in their lives, and to remove the scales from the eyes of their followers, convicting them of the hatred and evil in their hearts, turning them to your love, your peace.
Shared Prayer Focus
Father, there is so much injustice in your world. We lift up the leaders of countries, states, cities and governments to you and ask that you convict them of their decisions to create carnage and chaos with wars and repression of human rights, we ask that you light a spark of love in their hearts for you, and their lives would be devoted to you, and not their own self delusion and destruction.
