If you were to picture the "worst kind" of evil...or the most evil person...what would you picture?
A guy who purposely burned his own sons to death in a fire might fit the bill. Today's chapters describe such a man, King Manasseh of Judah. Manasseh was corrupt--he lead the people of Judah to worship idols, he practiced witchcraft and he set up a carving of a sex goddess in the middle of God's Temple.
Manasseh was a pretty messed up guy. And then one day, he made a turn-around. Manasseh was captured and taken off to Babylon. Here's what happened:
Now that he was in trouble,
he went to his knees in prayer asking for help—
total repentance before the God of his ancestors.
As he prayed, God was touched;
God listened and brought him back to Jerusalem as king.
That convinced Manasseh that God was in control.
Wow. Is God's forgiveness amazing or what?!?
Here's an interesting thing about sin: In God's opinion, there's no such thing as the "worst kind." Sin is sin. And all of us sin (see Romans 3:22-24). Some sins have bigger real-world consequences (e.g. you'll probably go to jail for a murder, but not for a lie), but any sin can separate us from God...in the worst case scenario, forever.
But as we approach Easter weekend, this passage reminded me of the amazing power of God's love, grace and compassion. When we ask for forgiveness, He gives it. When we believe that Jesus paid the price for our (past, present and future) sins, God sees us just as if we never sinned. That's the best kind of forgiveness possible.
Tomorrow: 2 Chronicles 35-36
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