A BAD KING - HE SOUNDS LIKE US

There was a man named Manasseh, who became king when he was only 12 years old and reigned for 55 years.  He was not the type of ruler to be admired, for the Bible says he was known for the evil things he did.  He was all about participating in pagan practices such as building shrines, making altars for images of Baal, bowing and worshiping them, sacrificing his own sons to pagan gods, and enjoying sorcery, divination, and witchcraft.  On top of all that, he placed pagan altars INSIDE the temple of the Lord! 

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and tried to get his attention, but Manasseh ignored God. As a result, God sent the Assyrian armies, who captured the king and took him away in chains to another country. Manasseh was deeply distressed at this point and the Bible says he “sought the Lord his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.  And when he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request.  So the Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.  Then Manasseh finally realized that the Lord alone is God!” 2 Chronicles 33:12-13 (NLT)

At first glance, we might think King Manasseh is nothing like us, but in fact he is JUST like us.  He built shrines and made altars to worship Baal, and bowed down in worship to the pagan God.  What God are we bowing down to?  What God do we make a shrine to?  Is it the God of pleasure?  Could it be the God of material things, such as our cars, our homes, or our name brand clothing?  Do we make our time the God of our life? Is our family the thing we put before God? 

Manasseh sacrificed his own sons by fire to pagan Gods.  We would never do that! But, do we sacrifice our children in this day and time? I believe we do just that.  We get caught up in the things of this world; we make those things our idols and by doing that – we sacrifice our children because we are not teaching them that God – Yahweh – the Holy One, must come first.  We follow sorcery, witchcraft and divination – place our hope in other things and leave God out of it.  It could even be said that we bring our idols into the sanctuary on Sunday, and miss the real reason we are there – to bow down and worship our Lord.

The great thing about the story of bad king Manasseh is that when he “sincerely humbled” himself  before God, things began to change.  God listened to him and was “moved by his request”.  We also have that option – to humble ourselves before God – to come clean and say we are sorry for putting other things before Him.  God will then restore us and things will be different.  Manasseh was different after coming clean with God.  He turned in another direction; removing the foreign gods and idols from the temple, tearing down altars, restoring the altar of the Lord, and best of all – he encouraged other people to worship God. 

It is never too late to ask God to forgive you; He is ALWAYS standing ready to listen to you and mend the relationship.  Why not come clean with Him today?

A STORY ABOUT TWO BROTHERS

Jacob and Esau were sons of Isaac and Rebekah.  When Isaac was dying, Jacob tricked his father.  He did two things – he stole Esau’s birthright and also his blessing.  Esau, being the oldest would have received more than half of the assets when his father died.  Isaac was very old and his eyesight was bad.  He asked Esau to go and kill some game to prepare a dish for him so he could eat it, bless his son Esau, and die. 

Rebekah overheard this and told Jacob to go and do these things in his brother’s place.  Jacob put on his brother’s clothes and put skins of an animal on his hands in order to deceive his father.  There was a lot of deception going on here. 

The Bible says that Esau held a grudge against his brother, and he vowed to kill him for what he had done.  Jacob went away and after many years he became prosperous.  God told him to return to his father’s land so he did.  Before he got to where his brother Esau was, he began to worry about what his brother would do to him – he had fear in his heart. So he decided to give him a few presents:

¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 

He was still afraid and he sent the women and children ahead of him.  It seems that Jacob was afraid that Esau would still be holding a grudge.  

⁴ But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

A relationship gone bad was mended!  God did that then – and He still does that today.   In fact he did that for me about 20 years ago.  I had some terrible feelings toward my father…..never provided for me, etc. But God allowed me to forgive. Oddly enough – it was after I became a parent.

I encourage you not to let years go by before mending a broken relationship.  What Jacob did against Esau was a big deal.  What someone has done to you might be a big deal too.  The fact is –God wants people to make amends and restore relationships.  Just like Jacob – we may have a fear that we won’t be accepted.  Esau was waiting with open arms when Jacob came to him.  We need to be willing to step out and approach that person – they may be waiting with open arms also.

WHAT DOES "CARE" REALLY MEAN?

I was driving down the road and noticed these signs:

• Primary Care Group – “Our family caring for yours”

• “Total Car Care”

I began to think about the word care.  It is a common word and is used in a lot of ways:

• When letting someone down gently: “I care for you – but I don’t love you”.

• In a time of anger:  “You don’t even care about me!”

• When we don’t like something:  “I don’t care for that”.

• As a caution:  “Take care of yourself”.
•  

1 Peter 5:7 says:

Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you

Psalm 23

 ¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

 ² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
       he leads me beside quiet waters,

 ³ he restores my soul.
       He guides me in paths of righteousness
       for his name's sake.

 ⁴ Even though I walk
       through the valley of the shadow of death, ^[a]
       I will fear no evil,
       for you are with me;
       your rod and your staff,
       they comfort me.

 ⁵ You prepare a table before me
       in the presence of my enemies.
       You anoint my head with oil;
       my cup overflows.

 ⁶ Surely goodness and love will follow me
       all the days of my life,
       and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
       forever.

I don’t know of anyone here on earth that can care for me like God does.

AT THE END

There are many "ends" in life, but the biggest one is when life itself comes to an end.  A lovely young lady came to the end of her life recently.  The funeral of this friend of mine was a true blessing to me and others.  My friend had the privilege of planning her own funeral.  The statement she wanted to make - what she wanted everyone to leave knowing - was that the most important thing of all in our time on earth - is Jesus.

It is sad knowing she is gone, but how thrilling to know that (as she put in her obituary) she was "sure of her salvation".  She wanted the funeral to be a celebration of her life.  She wanted the songs to be about salvation. She even made sure the service included an invitation for people to accept Jesus. 

I've been to a lot of funerals, but can't remember one that stuck with me like this one has.  We can labor and stew over many things while we live on this earth; we can succeed or fail, we can enjoy life or not. The fact is, what we gain here in THIS life is not something that gets us to heaven.  Only belief in Jesus, and asking His forgiveness, gets us eternal life.

My friend was SURE of her salvation and understood completely the need for others to have it. She had one last opportunity to tell that to others - at her funeral. Thank you my friend for a testimony like that!

John 5:2-4  says "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life".

GOD WATCHES OVER US

Parents watch over their children. When they start to walk we catch them when they fall. When they cross the street,we teach them when to cross. When they learn to drive we remind them of the do's and don’ts of driving.

I was watching my hummingbird feeder the other day. The male hummingbird perched at the top of the bar the feeder was hanging on.   The bird reminded me of how God watches over us.   He was moving his head to and fro – over and over- guarding the feeder.   If another bird came – he scared it off.     He was ever present –it seemed – so diligent at his post!  I am reminded of this type of "guarding" in Psalm 121:

 ¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
       where does my help come from?

 ² My help comes from the LORD,
       the Maker of heaven and earth.

 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
       he who watches over you will not slumber;

 ⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
       will neither slumber nor sleep.

 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
       the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

 ⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
       nor the moon by night.

 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
       he will watch over your life;

 ⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
       both now and forevermore.

It is good to know that the Lord watches over me – when I sleep, when I come and when I go, keeping me from harm.   Sometimes I forget this and rush through my day; not realizing I had that “help” that the psalmist talks about.

Remember how it felt to know as a child someone was watching out for you? It feels good to know God is watching over me now.

MY GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOUR GOD

Imagine with me two boys talking – “my dad is really smart” – “but my dad is smarter” says the other.  “My dad is really strong” – “Bet my dad could beat your dad up” says the other. “My dad is stronger than your dad”.. 

We were singing a song at church that had the phrase “our God is stronger – our God is greater” – and it reminded me of two kids arguing about their dad.  Then I was reminded of a story in the Bible where there was a “showdown” between two gods – the god Baal (who supposedly had power over rain,wind, and clouds) and Yahweh (the one true God).  

It seems that king Ahab had disobeyed God and began embracing and worshiping the god his wife Jezebel believed in – Baal.  Because of this disobedience – God (through the prophet Elijah) proclaimed a drought on the land of Israel.  After some time, Elijah decided enough was enough and there was a showdown between the prophets of Baal and himself.  

1Kings 18:21 – then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow Him.  But if Baal, follow him”. 

So the contest began.  Two oxen were brought out and two alters set up.  The prophets of Baal leaped about and called on their god – even cutting themselves with swords – for a whole day – and NOTHING HAPPENED.  Then Elijah prepared the alter by cutting the oxen – laying wood there and he even put a trench around it and filled the trench with water. He also had water poured on the sacrifice as well as all of the wood.  He had this done three times – so all was soaked with water.  Then Elijah called upon God to show the people that He was God – in order that the people would turn back to Him.

And God showed up!  Fire came down and consumed the sacrifice, the wood and even the stones and all of the water was licked up that was in the trench!  The people’s response was “Yahweh, He is God”.

This story reminds me that God is all powerful – and that HE is the one in charge of things.  And He can stand up to ANY situation and let His power be known. 

It also reminds me that He shows His power – so that others will believe in Him.