And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. 11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. 12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 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
Manasseh’s story of repentance never gets old! I am as surprised by the richness of God’s mercy and grace toward him as I was on my very first read. His conversion hits my heart harder than even Paul’s in the NT, because Manasseh was a total apostate. Paul was a religious leader, a Pharisee of Pharisees.
It stands out also, because as Manesseh suffered and was alone with his thoughts, I am sure he spent much time contemplating his father Hezekiah’s relationship with God. Manesseh had had the opportunity to see not only Hezekiah’s humility and dependence on God, but also God’s subsequent mercy and grace toward him when he repented.
I am so thankful that God uses us, as frail and fallen human beings, to come alongside Him in His work both in the here and now and even after we have left this earth. Our good works, that He prepared beforehand for us, are eternal in Him and are used for His eternal purposes. Our work is never in vain in the Lord.
Our God is the same yesterday today and forever. The God who brought Manasseh into affliction and to repentance is the same God who did that work in my own heart. My spirit testifies with Manesseh’s that my heart change was all of God from beginning to end. It is also God who continues that good work today and will continue to perfect and complete it til the day of His return. There is no explanation for my coming to God except for His unfailing love and grace. I am a woman who has been forgiven much. I could not, not sin. I had tried everything I knew from self-help books to gritting my teeth to become a “good” person. BUT EVEN IN MY FAILURE GOD IS TO BE PRAISED AND GOD IS TO BE THANKED! He used my hopeless and helpless condition to draw me to Him.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved ME, even when I was dead in my trespasses and my sin, made me alive together with Christ, His Son. I have been saved the same way Manesseh was saved....the same way Paul was saved...by grace...by God’s unmerited favor toward me.
I knew then and I know now that conversion is supernatural and all of God. Truly a changed human heart is God’s greatest miracle. If God can forgive and save Manesseh, He can and will do the same for you.
And who can complain that the way of heaven is blocked up, when he sees such a sinner enter? Say the worst against thyself, here is one as bad who finds the way to repentance. Deny not to thyself that which God hath not denied to thee; it is not thy sin, but thy impenitence, that bars heaven against thee.—Matthew Henry
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.—Jude 24-25
