PRAYER PROMPT ••• This morning, I read about King Manasseh who, by all accounts, was a horrible human being.
Detailed in 2 Chronicles 33, this guy defiled the Temple with idols, practiced witchcraft, and sacrificed some of his own children to false gods.
This guy would seem beyond redemption.
But what struck me is what happened after Manasseh was captured by an enemy and turned into a prisoner.
2 Chronicles 33:12 says, “But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the Lord his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.”
This tough-guy king who had spit in the face of everything his dad had done before him (his dad, Hezekiah, was a good guy who was devoted to God)… he surrendered.
Hit rock bottom.
Recognized the mess he’d made of things.
And with a repentant heart, he prayed to the one true God for forgiveness.
And amazingly, God forgave him.
Verse 13 says, “the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request.”
The verse wraps up with, “Then Manasseh finally realized that the Lord alone is God!”
I loved this story.
It proves that there is NOTHING we can do that puts forgiveness out of our reach.
We put degrees of badness on sins, but God doesn’t.
His grace and forgiveness are big enough to forgive the repentance for a little white lie, all the way to the opposite end of the sin-spectrum for the really heavy hitters among sin (again, our measurement, not God’s).
For Him, sin is sin is sin is sin.
But we serve the One who can make beauty from the ashes of a broken and repentant heart, even a heart that was once as filthy and evil as Manasseh’s.
Today, as you pray, thank God that His grace and mercy are big enough to forgive you!
Thank Jesus for being the ultimate sacrifice who took care of our sin debt for once and for all.
