2 CHRONICLES 33:10-13 – “The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.”

THEME OF THE DAY:  GOD’S PURSUING LOVE.   Would you be quick to believe me if I said that today’s scripture is one of the great displays of God’s pursuing love towards His wayward people who go astray from Him?  You may need to read it again to see it, but it’s true!  Manasseh and God’s people are recipients of the tough love of God.  And it is the same tough love that will come into our lives if needed!

Now the display. The first evidence of God’s love to Manasseh and his people is He talks to them.  We cannot take this for granted. God still speaks to us today and that through His Word.  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and then He so loved the world that He gave us His Holy Word so the world might know Him and His Son.  But Manasseh and God’s people ignored the Lord. They slighted His love.  And at that very moment, God would have been just to remain silent and let His people perish in their sin.  He did not. He showed more love and oh, He did so in a manner we might not even think of.

God so loved Manasseh and His people He brought severe pain into their lives through the godless and ruthless Assyrians.  Why? To get their attention to seek Him, to be humbled before Him, and to be reclaimed by Him so as to shower His repenting people with great blessings of answered prayer and compassion.

It will be so with us.  Complacency and taking God’s Word for granted are great evils.  And the Lord knows to ignore Him and His Word put us in danger.  So, what will He do?  Bring chastisement. Bring pain. Bring difficult circumstances in our lives to get our attention to bring us back to Himself.  That is what His pursuing love does. He and His love won’t let us go, and regardless of the length we may travel from the Lord, His love knows no limits.  He is the “hound of heaven” seeking His wayward sheep!

So, the lesson of Manasseh and God’s people serves us well as an example of God’s pursuing love, and also a warning.  We know not the lengths God will take to reclaim us.  Far better if we stay close to Him and don’t need His tough, painful, and pursuing love to seek us in our waywardness.

PRAYER: Lord, thank You for such pursuing love that will not let me go, even if it hurts me.

REFLECTION:  God’s covenant with us ensures He will not abandon us despite our often unfaithfulness.