Through the Fire

OT: 2 Chronicles 33-35
NT: Acts 9

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2 Chronicles 33:10-13 — The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

Sometimes it takes a brick wall to knock some sense into a person. Sometimes it merely takes a pillow. In either case, many times God will allow a person to endure hardship in order to show them that the path they are on in life is not the correct one. Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah, the best king the nation of Judah ever had. But Manasseh was not like his father. No, Manasseh was wicked and insolent -- a wild king who openly defied the Lord God of Israel by placing a vile statue in the Temple. He was far from the Lord and his wandering ways soon caught up to him.

Manasseh found himself hooked through the nose and carried off into captivity in Assyria. He was a prisoner of the king of Assyria and seemed doomed to die ina strange land. But Manasseh, in his prison cell, remembered something while he was away from home: YHWH was the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Hezekiah. And YHWH had done great things according to the stories of the land. Maybe He would listen. So Manasseh cried out to God and God heard and delivered him. From that day on the king was a changed man. Though his remaining years on the throne were few, his life had been changed. Can you relate to Manasseh's story? Did you have wandering past that concluded with a trial of fire? What did it take to correct your path and turn your heart towards the Lord? Have you thanked Him for that fire lately? Will you now?

Be God's.