Thank God for Manasseh and Nebuchadnezzar
Why would I thank God for those bad kings?
They both did a good thing for mankind.
Here is my thought behind it.
If there is a thing in common between Manasseh and Nebuchadnezzar,
though there appeared to be no common ground between them,
one of which was a king loser being dragged on to slavery and the other being the slave master,
they both prayed desperately and humbly to God and God answered their desperate yet sincere prayers.
Manasseh
2 Chronicles 33:13 (CEV)
The Lord listened to Manasseh’s prayer and saw how sorry he was,
and so he let him go back to Jerusalem and rule as king.
Manasseh knew from then on that the Lord was God.
Who was Manasseh like?
He was like a obnoxiously bad king having done obnoxious things to God,
and was dragged by the slave master who had put a ring in his nose, a symbol of slavery.
A king turned into a slave!
He prayed to God and God answered.
Nebuchadnezzar
Finally, I prayed to God in heaven, and my mind was healed.
Who was "I" in the above verse?
Nebuchadnezzar, a secular, gentile king who took Daniel and the rest of Israelite as his slaves.
Because of his sky high pride, he lost his sanity and became like an animal.
A powerful king turned into a pitiful animal in a day.
Would God listen to and answer prayers from such a being like him?
God did.
What do you think of Saul?
Acts 9:11 (CEV)
The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the house of Judas on Straight Street.
When you get there, you will find a man named Saul from the city of Tarsus.
Saul is praying,
Who was Saul?
He was a die-hard pharisees and full of self-right, murderous spirit.
Did God care to listen to his prayer?
God did.
How about our prayers?
Who are we?
Are we sinful or righteous?
I don't know about others, but I myself am more sinful than righteous.
Will God listen to prayers from a sinner?
According to His track record, He has proven doing that.
Thank God for Manasseh and Nebuchadnezzar.
They are good(?) role models for all the sinners in hopeless evil world.
By praying, they proved the fact that God is not only existing, but also merciful beyond measure.