God of the Fresh Start

When he prayed to him, the Lord was moved. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 13.

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading titled, God of the Fresh Start, was written and read by James Banks. 2 Chronicles chapter 33, verses 10 through 17. 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 ancestors. 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. Afterward, he rebuilt the outer wall of the city of David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the fish gate and encircling the hill of Ophiel.

He also made it much higher. He stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah. He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the Lord, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem. And he threw them out of the city. Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.

The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God. God of the Fresh Start The merchant of death is dead. That was the headline for an obituary that may have caused Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, to make a course correction in his life.

But the newspaper made a mistake. Alfred was very much alive. It was his brother, Ludwig, who had died. And when Alfred realized he'd be remembered for a dangerous invention that claimed many lives, he decided to donate most of his significant wealth to establishing an award for those who had benefited humanity.

It became known as the Nobel Prize. More than 2,000 years earlier, another powerful man had a change of heart. Manasseh, king of Judah, rebelled against God. As a result, he was taken captive to Babylon. But in his distress he sought the favor of the Lord, and when he prayed, God brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.

Manasseh spent the rest of his rule in peace, serving God and doing his best to undo the wrongs he had done before. The Lord was moved by Manasseh's prayer. God responds to humility. When we realize we need to make a change in the way we're living and turn to him, he never turns us away. He meets us with grace we don't deserve and renews us with the self-giving love he poured out at the cross.

New beginnings begin with him. May we pray. Forgiving Father, thank you that you'll never turn us away. Please help us to turn to you with all our hearts in all we do today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As you go about your day, reflect on these questions. Where in your life do you need to have a change of heart? How will you turn to God today?