12 While Manasseh was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. 13 He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty, heard his plea, and restored him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord indeed was God.
~2 Chronicles 33:12-13
Part of my own spiritual growth and development is reading through the bible each year. I have a book that was gifted to me by my Pastor at the time that breaks the entirety of scripture up into 365 daily readings: an Old Testament, a New Testament, a Psalm (or part of a Psalm), and some Wisdom Literature. It helps me to remember the entirety of God’s story and keep the bigger picture fresh in my mind. Doing these types of readings helps me discover new places where God is working in my own life, and in the lives of others. There are no reflections written by others, just God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.
The past few days, my Old Testament readings have been walking through 2 Chronicles. 1 and 2 Chronicles are interesting books because much of it is a shortened version of 1 and 2 Kings or other parts of the Old Testament. But they are unique because they focus on Judean Kings rather than Israeli Kings, the hope and faith of the Kings during their lifetime rather than the pure experiences of the Babylonian exile and captivity for generations. (If you want to see the breakdown you can visit esv.org/resources/esv-global-study-bible/chart-13-02/ )
2 Chronicles 33 tells the story of Manasseh, who became king at 12-years-old after his father Hezekiah ruled the land. Hezekiah is one of many kings who restored the people’s worship of God after long season of pagan practices. But, as I expect many 12-year-olds do, Manasseh did not do what his father had done, and turned the people back to “abominable practices of the nations” that were not filled with God’s people. AKA, he turned the people back towards pagan practices (evil practices as scripture is known to call them). The Chronicler, as we call the writer, says that Manasseh had turned the people so far away from God, that they were worse than the people God had destroyed before it became a part of Israel. So, when the Assyrians came in to try and take over, they had no foundation to hold them up.
Manasseh was taken captive, bound, and taken away to Babylon. It was there out of distress, that he turned and prayed to God. God heard Manasseh’s prayer and answered it by helping to restore the Jerusalem, and the rest of the kingdom, back to Manasseh. Manasseh was transformed and began to live and reign faithfully as his father and others had done. As King, he got others to do the same.
Now, we’ve been talking a lot about prayer lately- how to pray, what prayer does, what it means- but I think Manasseh has an important lesson for our prayer lives too. Notice that Manasseh not only prayed, but “entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself.” Manasseh recognized the moments he had missed the mark on who God had called him to be, recognized the need for God’s help, and asked for it.
Manasseh humbled himself before praying and we are called to so the same.
Have you ever heard someone talk about our “prayer posture?” Normally when I hear the phrase, I think of something one of my Sunday School teachers used to say, “we bow our heads, we fold our hands, we close our eyes, and our mouths.” Through seminary I learned of other postures of prayer: out loud or silent, kneeling, bowing, sitting with heads bowed or folded over with our elbows on our knees, standing with arms wide open (a posture you see me using in worship quite frequently). But prayer posture has just as much to do with, if not more to do with, our mental state as it does physical.
Having a good prayer posture requires focus on God and removing distractions from not only our space but our mind. It requires a ready and willingness to hear from God. It requires an open heart and mind to hear things that we may not want to hear. And it requires, as Manasseh learns, a humbling of ourselves- a recognition that we do not have all the answers, that we do not always get it right, that we need help, and that God is the one to provided it.
As we have talked about prayer the past few weeks, how has your understanding or practice of prayer changed?
Comment your thoughts below!
Blessings friends,
Pastor Nicole