Thoughts for another day

Oct. 17, 2012.

Today's verse: 2 Chr. 33:13. And when he prayed, the LORD listened to him and was moved by his request for help. So the LORD let Manasseh return to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Manasseh had finally realized that the LORD alone is God! (New Living Translation – copyright ack.)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

Manasseh, a wicked king led the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do more evil than the pagan nations the Lord had driven out when He brought the children of Israel into Canaan.   Therefore, the Lord sent the Assyrian armies to destroy him and they did much harm to Manasseh and led him to Babylon (2 Ch. 33:9-11).  Then an amazing thing happened; in his deep distress, Manasseh sought the Lord God and greatly humbled himself before God.  So deep was his entreaty that our Scripture today tells us that the LORD heard him and was moved by his request for help.

When I see this, I look up to the sky and tell the Lord:  In you I have hope.  Not because He keeps the heart to forgive and so I can sin again and again and seek His forgiveness; but because often, I sin without knowing what I do and when I'm pained in my soul for the sin I committed, I know I can hope in Him for just as He forgave Manasseh and helped him, He will forgive and help me too.

This confidence I have in God and I know that no matter how far we go from Him, He is always ready to welcome us back and even if we have grieved Him seriously, He is indeed moved when we lay our hearts in abject surrender and cry before Him because of the pain of our suffering, a suffering that came to us because of our rash attitude with Him; yet, He lets bygones be bygones and is eager about the new beginning we pledge to Him.  Such is our God, the Holy and Mighty One of Israel.  With Him as your God, you can have hope for He is a God Who is the fount of hope, always.