Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Chronicles 31-33.

Today’s passage starts with follow up on the people’s response to King Hezekiah’s restoration of temple worship of God.  The people were so moved by their experience of worshiping God at the temple in Jerusalem that they went through the land destroying the idols, altars, and places of worship for other gods.  It goes on to talk about Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah and how that turned out, which is something we can learn a lot from.  However, today I want to focus on Hezekiah’s on, Manasseh.  Manasseh took the throne as a boy of 12 and did evil in the sight of the Lord.  As I read the passage, Manasseh was as evil as any king of Judah either before or after him, and the people joined him in his evil.  God sent prophets to bring Manasseh and the people back to Him, but they did not respond.  So, God brought Assyrian invaders who took Manasseh into torturous captivity.  In captivity, Manasseh finally turned to God and sought His deliverance.  God answered Manasseh’s prayer and delivered him.  In response to God’s deliverance, Manasseh sought to undo all of the evil he had done in his younger years.  Over the last week or so, I have discussed kings who started out enthusiastically serving God only to turn from Him as they got older.  In Manasseh we have an example that it can work the other way as well.    Those other kings serve as a warning to us who chose to serve God at a young age.  Manasseh serves as a message of hope for those who turned their backs on Him.  If we turn to God and cry out to Him, He will listen and deliver us, no matter what evil we have previously done.  As long as this life lasts, it is never too late to turn to God and start serving Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.