2 Chronicles 33:12-18 And when he was in affliction, he sought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,… Men first begin to know God when they are forgiven. What did the prodigal know about his father when he asked for the portion of goods that fell to him, or while he was wasting his substance in riotous living? Because love and forgiveness are more strange and unearthly than rebuke and chastisement, the sinner is humbled by pardon far more than by punishment; and his trembling submission to the righteous Judge deepens into profounder reverence and awe for the God who can forgive, who is superior to all vindictiveness, whose infinite resources enable Him to blot out the guilt, to cancel the penalty, and annul the consequences of sin. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, |
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