2 Chronicles 33...

And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks,fn bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.  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.—2 Chronicles 33:10-13

Reading through Chapter 33 of 2 Chronicles brought me to Psalm 25.  Psalm 51 also came to mind.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.--Psalm 51:17

Manesseh knew what he had to do. He knew what was right.  His father had lived it before him. Psalm 25 says this:

“Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He teaches sinners in the way.  The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way.” 

It takes humility to make the choices Hezekiah made.  It takes humility to bite the bullet, recognize your sinfulness, and cry out to the Lord to save you from it.  Thanks to sin, personal humility is something we find repulsive.  Like Manesseh...many of us prefer to die in our sins rather than sacrifice our hideous and unmerited pride.  We refuse to believe God knows best and thus stubbornly plow straight into a pit.  We spurn His precious, glorious, beautiful salvation for an eternity of self-inflicted torment.  Thankfully for Manesseh, God, in His kindness, would not let him continue down this wrong path.   

Reading the account of the Chaldeans, we learn that Manesseh was afflicted greatly in Babylon.  It tells of torture of a horrific scale. This from the Blue letter Bible and Chuck Smith:

"For the Chaldeans made a brazen mule, and pierced it full of small holes, and put him in it. They then kindled fires all around it; and when he was in this affliction, he sought help of all the idols which he had made, but obtained none, for they were of no value. He therefore repented, and prayed before the Lord his God, and was greatly humbled in the sight of the Lord God of his fathers."

God did not give up on Manesseh.  Look at what it took though, to bring him to the point where he cried out to the Lord His God.   Look at the level of affliction that was necessary to rid him of his pride and bring Him before His God with a broken and contrite heart.  

This was not God's vengeance upon  Manesseh, this was His mercy and kindness. How much better it was for Manesseh to suffer here on earth for a short while than to suffer eternal torment.  God allowed all of Manesseh's afflictions to bring him to His knees...to bring him to a place of safety and protection from the eternal fires of hell.  

I am blown away this morning by the depth of the riches both of God’s wisdom and His knowledge, but also of His mercy toward us, His creatures.  Truly His judgments are unsearcheable and His ways past finding out.  His mercy towards us never ceases and brings to mind the beautiful hymn, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing....

Streams of mercy, never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood; How His kindness yet pursues me, mortal tongue can never tell.