Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh became king. Here is how his reign started:
2 Chronicles 33:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. 2 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, following the detestable practices of the pagan nations that the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father, Hezekiah, had broken down. He constructed altars for the images of Baal and set up Asherah poles. He also bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them.
And what did that get him?
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they ignored all his warnings. 11 So the Lord sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.
Unfortunately, that is what has to happen to us sometimes, before we will turn to God. We are 'taken captive' by our sins and become 'bound by chains of addiction'. And for some, it is only through experiencing this 'dead end' path of existence that we realize that there must be something better out there for us. For Manasseh, that was what it took for him to take stock of his life and realize he was on the wrong path.
12 But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the Lord his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. 13 And when he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request. So the Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the Lord alone is God!
God knows our hearts, and he knew that Manasseh meant business. I think as parents, this is what we want for our children. God uses us to speak on His behalf, as well as He speaks to them through His word, and our children can either heed the warnings, or ignore them. Just as God wants to spare us the pain and suffering of wrong choices because of His love for us, that is what we want for our children. Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way. May God give our children the grace to humbly accept His word, given through parents and others, and obviously through the Bible.
Manasseh had a 'salvation experience'. Here are a few things he did after this encounter with God:
14 After this Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David.
15 Manasseh also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the Lord’s Temple.
He tore down all the altars he had built on the hill where the Temple stood and all the altars that were in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city.
16 Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it. He also encouraged the people of Judah to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.
17 However, the people still sacrificed at the pagan shrines, though only to the Lord their God.
When we realize there is more to life than living for ourselves, and give our lives to Christ, there are changes. We are different people. There should be evidence of this changed life to others.
Following is the 'end of the story' for Manasseh:
18 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, his prayer to God, and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Israel. 19 Manasseh’s prayer, the account of the way God answered him, and an account of all his sins and unfaithfulness are recorded in The Record of the Seers.
How would you like it if all your sins were recorded? I know I wouldn't. And that's the problem when we don't live for God. Someone, somewhere notices. I don't know that anyone is writing an account of our lives, but it gives us something to think about. If God was writing a 'modern day' Bible, with the accounts of our lives in it, is it something we would want shared? Or would we hope that no one ever saw it.
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