Beyond Forgiveness

Have you believed that you were beyond forgiveness? I’m here to tell you that there is really no such thing in God’s eyes. God forgives. Jeremiah tells us in Lamentations 3:31-33, “For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”

God always forgives, but there is a catch.

In 2 Chronicles chapter 33, we learn of a Judean king named Manasseh. “He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger” (v. 6). To summarize some of Manasseh’s deeds: he worshipped other gods within the Temple of the Lord, practiced divination, and even sacrificed his own children to idols. God tried to get his attention. In verse 10 it says, “The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.” So God not only allowed his downfall but  “brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria who took Manasseh prisoner (v. 11a).” 

The Assyrians were not kind people. In fact, they were known to be cruel and ruthless. Manasseh’s experience was no different. Continuing verse 11b, we know that the Assyrians “put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.”

The why and even how are left out, but it seems that relatively soon after Manasseh was humiliated by the Assyrians, he repented to the One True God. Scripture tells us in verses 12-13, “In his distress (Manasseh) sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.”

God knew Manasseh wasn’t bluffing. He knew Manasseh was sincere. God would have probed him and looked into his heart. And what he saw was a man who was ready to change, a man who was ready to trust the real God. Manasseh was forgiven, even with all his horrific sins.

God will forgive us, too. There doesn’t have to be anything special about us. There wasn’t anything special about Manasseh. He probably would have been considered pure evil, even in the corrupt time and place he lived in. The Scriptures don’t say it, but he likely broke every commandment God ever gave! At the very least, he was recorded as being an idolater and a murderer.

We, too, can come to God with our plea. It doesn’t matter the offenses we have in our past. What matters is that we return to God.

God always forgives, but here’s the catch:

We must come to Him with a sincere heart. God knows our hearts. We can’t trick Him into thinking that we are sorry when we really aren’t, and we can’t hide our motives. We know this from Psalm 139:1-2, “You have searched me, Lord and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” And God promises in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ”

Manasseh’s short story ends, after only 20 verses, with him continuing his trust in the Lord. After returning to Jerusalem, he tried to right the wrongs he had committed and commanded the people under his rule “to serve the Lord, the God of Israel (2 Chronicles 33:16b).”

Our story can end with trusting God, too. Stop thinking that you are beyond forgiveness. There’s no such thing. No matter what we have done or where we have been, we can humble ourselves before God, return to Him, and finally find forgiveness.