[King Manasseh] 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.  – II Chronicles 33:15

Manasseh was absolutely the most wicked king that the Kingdom of Judah had ever known. Throughout his life and reign, he took every opportunity to profane and blaspheme the name of the LORD. When Manasseh’s father, the righteous King Hezekiah, finally died and it was his turn to rule over God’s people, he did not follow the Godly example of his father. Manasseh chose the way of wickedness and led God’s people to become even worse than the pagan nations who had lived in the land before them. As king, Manasseh set a terrible example for his people by living the most wicked lifestyle. The pagan altars that his father had torn down, he set back up. The idols that his father had destroyed, he rebuilt. The sacrifices to false gods that his father had stopped, he reinstituted. And then Manasseh went even further. He set up altars and shrines to pagan gods inside the Lord’s very temple in Jerusalem. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft. He even sacrificed his own sons in the fire outside of Jerusalem in the Hinnom Valley. Hundreds of years later, in Jesus’s time, the Hinnom Valley (referred to as “Gehenna”) was considered an evil place where garbage was burned and the bodies of dead criminals were disposed of. It was this place that Jesus referenced when he spoke of Hell. The land had been tainted by the actions of the wicked king Manasseh, and that taint remained for many generations.

Manasseh’s story is also recorded for us in II Kings 21. But the writer of Chronicles tells us something that the writer of Kings leaves out. Manasseh did not die as a wicked king. He died as an honorable king. You see, Manasseh was eventually taken prisoner by the king of Assyria and they hauled him off to Babylon with “a hook in his nose.” Mighty King Manasseh was made a prisoner and a slave. And only then did he see the folly of his ways and ask the Lord for forgiveness. We hear about a lot of people who turn to the Lord from terrible wickedness, and we often wonder if their conversions were true. Scripture records for us, though, that Manasseh’s prayer touched the heart of God and that the Lord forgave him for his terrible actions. When Manasseh was eventually allowed to return home, he followed the footsteps of his father and began to undo some of the horrendous things he had done. He tore down the altars he had built, and ended the sacrifices he had begun, and destroyed the idols he had erected. The evidence of a true encounter with God is a life that is changed. Manasseh’s horribly wicked life was truly made different, and his story shows us that no one is ever too far gone to receive forgiveness from God.

Whether you feel that your own sins are too much for the Lord to forgive, or you think that another’s sin runs too deep for them to ever know the Lord, remember that His arms can reach lower than we can imagine. He is able to lift up those who seem to be the most unworthy of His love. Surely He has enough grace to lift up you and me, too.