It Took A Hook

8.2.2011

2 Chronicles 33:12 12 In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. NIV

Manasseh at one point was a fool. After the reign of his father Hezekiah, he decided to go in another direction: he forgot all about God. How dumb can you get? After all he saw under the leadership of his dad he decides to throw it all out the window and worship idols. Until…

Until one day the Lord sent an army against Manasseh and he wound up in chains with a hook through his nose (Oww! That hurts!) and he was led off to Babylon to think about things. While in Babylon he repented and prayed to God to help him; the Scripture says he sought the favor (grace) of the Lord and humbled himself greatly before God. God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble.

What will it take in our lives to get off the schneid and serve the Lord (if we aren’t)? What will it take to get our attention? Manasseh could’ve blamed the Lord and become bitter, but he weighed the situation and somehow came to the conclusion if he was ever going to get out of the mess he was in it would have to be the Lord who did it. Maybe it was ‘foxhole religion’ – I don’t think so because of what he did after he changed his ways.

They say that right after the 9/11 attacks that church attendance in America skyrocketed – people were afraid. But by January of the following year attendance was worse than it was prior to the attacks; they’d gone back to sleep. Manasseh woke up and repented. That was brilliant even though it took a hook in his nose to get his attention.

I can approach life by accepting the battles and crying out to the Lord or I can blame Him for the ‘baddles’ and persist in my selfishness. I can learn the lesson of Manasseh who came to know that the Lord is God, or I can continue to pound my head against the wall. The choice is mine.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6 NIV) To quote a friend who quoted a friend: At any give time, there's more going right than going wrong in the life of a Christ-follower. -Al Miller. Thank God for grace!