A Cry from the Heart

God's merciful love is always revealed in response to a cry from the heart. The Bible has a lot to say about that humble cry for deliverance. “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; he heard my voice from his temple, and my cry came before him, even to his ears” (Psalm 18:6 NKJV). “Many times he delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry” (Psalm 106:43-44).

A cry to God will always be answered! No one is too wicked or hopeless if they reach out to him in humility. The story of King Manasseh, one of the most wicked kings of Israel, proves it.

“He raised up altars for Baal, and made a wooden image…he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger” (see 2 Kings 21:2-6).

“So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel” (2 Chronicles 33:9-10).

Is there hope for someone so far from God, so possessed by evil and darkness? Yes! Manasseh ended up a prisoner in a foreign nation, bound with chains. In his affliction, he cried out and God heard him, forgave him and restored him.

“Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to him; and he received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. …He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city” (2 Chronicles 33:12-13,15).

This word of hope, forgiveness, mercy, love and restoration is for you. Hear God’s Word, repent, then be made whole and walk with him! There is no sin that cannot be forgiven when we ask. We are never too far down to be healed and restored.