a child of god
this is the way, run in it
Manasseh! The very name causes people to hiss and say, ooooh, he was a baddie! And he was. He was very bad. He followed good King Hezekiah, his father, as King of Judah, and in 2 Chronicles 33 the bible says, "And he did evil in the sight of the LORD according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel." Manasseh did really bad things like restore idol worship, even putting up idols to pagan gods (man-made gods) in the temple of the LORD, he also sacrificed his own sons to those pagan gods (child sacrifice), he practiced witch craft and consulted mediums and spiritists, and the bible says, "Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel." So Manasseh led the people to out-pagan the pagans! He was a baddie.
Don't think God left them on their own to go down this path of evil and becoming like the sinful pagan nations and cultures around them. The bible says in verse 10 that "The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention." How sad is that? The LORD God even spoke to them, and tried to turn them around the right way, but they refused to pay any attention to God. Does this ring a bell at all? I can recall times when I hardened my heart to what God was saying to me and then I went ahead and did what I wanted, and it never ended well. But, Manasseh had a change of heart. After he had been led away into captivity by the Assyrians - it says that the King of Assyria led Manasseh away "with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon" (v.11) - Manasseh, in his distress, entreated the LORD. He knew who to cry out to when he was in trouble! Manasseh prays to God and it says, "he humbled himself greatly" before God. He had a change of heart. And what is God's response? Verse 13, "When Manasseh prayed to God, God was moved by his entreaty" (check that out! the heart of God was moved by Manasseh's repentance and prayers and heart change), "and He heard his supplication" (God hears Manasseh's prayers), "and He brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom." God rescued Manasseh, after Manasseh had a change of heart and cried out to God again. God even restores Manasseh to his kingdom. And what was the result of that for Manasseh and the kingdom of Judah? The bible says, "Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God." This is spiritual revelation here, guys! Manasseh had an epiphany. He had a change of heart, that led to his turning to God again. He prayed, he humbled himself greatly, and when he saw God answer his prayer - he knew - that kind of knowing that is deeper than head knowledge - that the LORD, Yahweh, is God. I love that. What an outcome. So does Manasseh just say, thanks, God! Appreciate that. And then get on with his life the way he wants to? No! He cleans house! This is so important. He starts throwing out all the idols he had caused to be made, that he had led the people of Israel to worship, to whom he had sacrificed his own kids, he gets rid of them all. He also re-institutes proper worship of the LORD God and makes sure the people go back to worshiping God as well. He applied the lesson he learned. His knowledge, that profound moment of realization of the LORD God as the only true and living God, made a difference in his life and the lives of the people. We also see another key principle here. People will follow their leader. Most of the time. So the direction and principles that the leader sets are crucial. I love it that God can take a baddie and help him become a goodie. I'm thankful for that in my own life. But it took a heart change, it took a humbling, a great humbling of Manasseh's heart, and turning back to God and then a walking it out with God again. So the next time I hear Manasseh's name, instead of going, "ooooh! He was a baddie!" I'm going to say, "Hey! He was a baddie, but God helped him become a goodie!" May I walk out my life lessons from God as well as Manasseh did. May I have a humble, a greatly humbled heart before the LORD God. He's worth it.
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Franci Ballwatching and working for the kingdom of God in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham - UK Archives
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