King Manasseh - My brain has imploded

Ok y'all, this is super random and just happened but my mind is absolutely blown away. So, I made it my goal to go through the whole OT this year, and back in May I was reading 2 Kings. It was... well it was 2 Kings. A lot of cool stuff, a lot of weird stuff, and a lot of evil stuff. Then I got to Hezekiah. It was a really cool account, and I totally wasn't expecting the Isaiah crossover event. I found it as a nice kind of island of rest amongst all the "and X did what was evil in the sight of the LORD" stuff that surrounded it.

Then we get Manasseh. Nobody could prepare me for 2 Kings 21 and the absolute EVIL that this dude did. I mean, even JUDGES isn't on the same level as this guy (but it does get close). Anyways, I get through his stuff and finish 2 Kings then BAM: 1 Chronicles. Now, I knew that 1&2 Chronicles are kind of just a retelling of 1&2 Kings, so I decided to just skip them. The ten chapters of genealogies at the beginning of 1 Chronicles were kind of a turn off as well.

So then, I'm going on with the rest of my year, getting through the wisdom books and starting the major prophets, but Manasseh just doesn't leave my mind. 2 Kings 21 just stuck with me for some reason, and I couldn't understand how someone could be so evil. I remember kind of wondering to myself what God thought about him and how bad it had to get for God to declare in his reign that the exile would take place.

Then today, just now, I was considering getting some biblical analysis software (Logos, it looks awesome), and one of their photos showed a feature where you can hover over certain words in the Bible and get a quick definition. What was the word that was being hovered over? Manasseh. King. Manasseh. There was a bullet point with a good amount of information on him, but my eyes lasered in on a single word with a reference: Repentance - 2 Chronicles 33:10-20.

AINT. NO. WAY. I went IMMEDIATELY to 2 Chronicles 33:10-20 and my entire concept I had of this guy in my mind got SHATTERED. He went from being the one of the most evil dudes I thought I had ever read about to one of the most redeemed dudes. Y'all, I immediately started praising God for this, cause I know that if he redeemed THIS DUDE he can redeem ANYONE. Like, I know that's supposed to be Saul/Paul's whole deal, but you kind of get desensitized to it when you grow up in Sunday school. This puts it in a whole new light. And you wanna know the best part? This is the thing that has killed any doubt of mine that the God of the OT is any different than the God of the NT, cause I mean, just look for yourself and tell me that this isn't the same God that forgives our sins. He went ahead and pulled this evil king into a foreign land, and gave him the opportunity to repent by doing so. That's crazy. Crazy awesome. This isn't a prodigal's son moment, this is the father showing up and dragging his son back to his house from the pig pen while his son is kicking screaming the whole way, only for his son to realize how forgiving and loving his father really is and then repenting of his sins. Praise. The. Lord.