GRACE TRANSFORMS

2 Chronicles 33

Are you familiar with the story of Manasseh, king of Judah?  If you asked me this question I would have said, “Sure!  He was perhaps the most wicked of all Judah’s kings!”  This is true.  But I came across his story again yesterday in my devotional reading.  It was one of those readings that stuck in my head all day and kept coming back to mind, keeping me from focusing on other work.

Manasseh became king at age twelve when his father, Hezekiah, died.  Scripture does not tell us that he had wise advisers or counselors as other young kings had.  A twelve-year-old king with absolute power and great wealth is a recipe for disaster!  It turned out badly.  He rebelled against God and turned back to the wicked practices of the nations Israel replaced in Canaan.  He rebuilt the pagan shrines and put up altars to the Baals and Ashteroth.  He worshiped these gods and even offered his sons in the fires.  He brought all of these images into the temple in Jerusalem and established a pagan priesthood.  He practiced fortune-telling and sorcery and used mediums and necromancers to summon evil spirits posing as people who had died.

Not only did Manasseh participate in such abominations; he also led the people of Judah astray as well.  The text says they did more evil than the nations God destroyed in Canaan.  God was not silent while all of this was going on.  God sent prophets to warn Manasseh and God spoke to him and the people but the scripture says they did not listen.

Finally, God brought the Assyrians to deal with this wicked king.  They took him off to Babylon in chains and with a hook in his nose.  The next verses are the ones that stuck in my brain all day yesterday.  “And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.  He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.  Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God” (2 Chronicles 33:12, 13).

First two thoughts:  I should never give up praying for someone to come to faith because it is never too late for God to work in his heart.  No person is too wicked for God to save.  Ok, those are two easy ones to see.

But the thing that worked in my heart and mind all day is the unfathomable grace of God!  Manasseh could not have turned his own hardened heart toward God.  In his grace and mercy God managed circumstances in such a way that Manasseh recognized his hopeless distress and his own helplessness.  It was God who worked in Manasseh’s heart and turned that sinful heart to repentance.  God drew this evil man to himself.  This is the grace of God!  This is the same grace he demonstrated toward me.  He turned my heart and drew me to himself.  I was as helpless and hopeless as Manasseh and never would have turned to God unless he drew me with his grace.

Manasseh returned to Jerusalem and tore down the shrines, idols, and altars.  He removed all the foreign gods and restored the temple worship.  He commanded the people to worship the God of Israel.  He was a completely changed man.  God changed him.  Thanks be to God for the marvelous grace with which he called us, drew us, and saved us!