August 2
2 Chron 32:1-33:13 | PS 25:16-22 | Prov 20:16-18 | Rom 15:23-16:9
Many struggle with an honest reflection of how far they are from God's perfection and how close they are to the most vile sinners. It is because of this and due to most believing that our goodness and salvation is graded on a merit based or works based system, that many can't fathom the depths of God's grace and mercy. God's grace is when God gives us things that we don't deserve, while God's mercy is withholding giving us what we do deserve. Realize, as sinners, which we all are (we are not to weigh them on standards erected by men), we all deserve judgment, but due to His grace He continues to lavish us with undeserved blessings. When people hear of the likes of Son of Sam coming into a true relationship with Jesus Christ, many scream hypocrisy, or unfair. Why? Though his sins were evil and public, God's grace is more powerful than the evil he committed. Who are any of us to question one's authenticity when it comes to repentance?
When we come to King Manasseh, who surprisingly was given the longest reign of the kings of Judah, 55 years, we also come to the most evil king in Judah's history. He rebuilt the high places and altars to serve other gods, he brought pagan worship into God's holy Temple, he killed some of his sons by having them pass through fire in sacrifice to the god of Molech, he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. In fact it says of him in 2 Chronicles 33:6,9, "... He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger...So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel." You might feel like cheering when you read 33:10-11, "And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon." But we then see God's grace extended to this vile sinner in 33:12-13, "Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God."
When you read this account of this evil king, we must be careful about being excited when he is finally getting what he deserved. For as bad as he was, and he was, God's grace was better. When we look at the evil permeating our society and those guilty of pushing these agendas,we must remember God's words in Ezekiel 33:11, "Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’" David, a man after God's own heart, was guilty of adultery and murder, yet God's grace was extended to him, after he repented. We must never consider others, no matter what they may be guilty of, to be beyond the reach of God's grace. Likewise, we must never consider ourselves so good, that we don't need God's grace. We must compare ourselves to God, not one another, if we are to have an honest reality of what our standing would be without His grace. Thank you Jesus, for paying the price which none of us are capable of, and for your patience with all of us.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: