The Amazing Grace of God

      There are those among us who think that they have gone too far, or sunk too low, for God to forgive them.  They can't believe that God would even listen to them if they cried out to Him, because they feel so undeserving.  But who does deserve God's grace?  No one.  That's why it's called GRACE.  His grace reaches out to everyone, if they truly humble themselves before Him.  Let me tell you a story...
      There was a man--a king, in fact--named Manasseh.  His father's name was Hezekiah.  And even though King Hezekiah was a good king and did what was right in the sight of the Lord, his son, Manasseh, was quite the opposite.  Where Hezekiah did everything within his power (and he had a lot of power) to get rid of any trace of foreign gods and to cleanse the house of the Lord, Manasseh seemed to do whatever he could to tick God off!  2 Chronicles 33:2-9 spells out all the atrocities that Manasseh committed.  (I suggest you read it, so you can see just how far God's grace extends.)  Among the abominations he committed, Scripture says that "he even set a carved image, the idol of which he had made, in the house of God" (italics mine) and that "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" (2 Chronicles 33:9).  Can a person really get any worse than this?  I don't think so.
      So... When neither Manasseh nor his people listened when the Lord spoke to them, the king of Assyria took Manasseh captive and carried him off to Babylon.  Now the Lord had his attention!  I think he had an "Aha!" moment, because during his captivity, he earnestly prayed to the Lord and humbled himself before the God of his fathers.  God immediately responded by receiving Manasseh's humble plea and returned him back to his people, because He saw a truly repentant heart.  That was indeed grace.  It was by taking that step of faith when crying out to God for forgiveness, that he then knew that the Lord was God (verse 13).  In the verses that follow, Manasseh walked in that faith and, for the rest of his days, did what was right in the sight of God.
      If God would do this for a man such as Manasseh, there is no sin that we can commit that the Lord will not forgive, if we come to Him with a humble, repentant heart.  And there is NOTHING that can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).
      Do you know someone who thinks they are beyond the reach of God's love or forgiveness?  Share with them this little-known story from the Old Testament.  Share with them how, by God's amazing grace, you have been forgiven.  And share with them His unconditional love.  "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).