Teach us to pray-15

Sorry for the lateness as we just got back home from a family event out of state.

We already have covered a lot of what the Bible has recorded on prayer, but haven’t studied all that we have been given. There is one evil king, Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a king that tried to obey God, but his son did not. He was evil, did evil, and led Judah to do evil. Was there any hope for Manasseh to return to the God of his father?

2 Chronicles 33:1  Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 

33:2  He did evil in the sight of the LORD according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 33:3  For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he also erected altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 33:4  He built altars in the house of the LORD of which the LORD had said, "My name shall be in Jerusalem forever." 33:5  For he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 33:6  He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. 

You can’t do more evil than this! He built altars to idols, worshiped Baal, offered his sons as offerings, practiced sorcery and called on mediums and spiritists. He did much evil and provoked God to anger. How could he be a true son of Hezekiah?

33:7  Then he put the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; 33:8  and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them according to all the law, the statutes and the ordinances given through Moses." 

God demands and deserves obedience. He has given us all of his Law, commandments, and statutes. We have no excuse and neither did Manasseh.

33:9  Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel. 33:10  The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 

God again sent prophets, but he did not listen to them. Just like with Jeremiah and Ezekiel speaking to people who did not listen.

33:11  Therefore the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. 

Assyria took him captive in chains. He was captured with hooks, like an animal. He could not escape them or God.

2Ch 33:12  When he was in distress, he entreated the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 

33:13  When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. 

God doesn’t listen to the prayers of the unrighteous. But, it would appear he repented and acknowledged God as the only true and living God. God not only forgave him but restored him. Since God has given us this example of restoring a very evil king, He can restore anyone else that repents.

33:14  Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 33:15  He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 

The first step in your sanctification is getting rid of the things of sin and temptation. We should remove ourselves from the sinful practices of this world.

33:16  He set up the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. 33:17  Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to the LORD their God. 

While Manasseh finally did what was right, the consequences were not all removed. The people still followed Baal and other idols.

33:18  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh even his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of Israel. 33:19  His prayer also and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of the Hozai. 33:20  So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son became king in his place. 

We all need to remember that our sin does and will affect others. We can lead others to sin as we sin.

No one is so evil that God will not forgive them when they repent. It must be sincere, it must be humble, and it must be followed by obedience.

This all began with Manasseh reaching bottom in an Assyrian cell. He cried out to God and was heard. Who needs to know this in your circle of friends, business associates, family members, and acquaintances?

More next Saturday.