Looks like King Manasseh has a bit of his grandpapa Ahaz’ bad genes. While Manasseh’s father, Hezekiah, carried on as best he could with leading Jerusalem and Judah to honor the Lord and only the Lord, his son did not follow in his footsteps. In fact, this chapter reveals that things aren’t looking up for Jerusalem during this reign of kings. Forgive the simplicity of how I’m about to word this, but it helps me keep things straight: we had BAD Ahaz, then GOOD Hezekiah, and now it’s BAD Manasseh and BAD Amon. That’s three bads and one good, which isn’t good, as we all clearly can see. God certainly sees it. He sees it so well that He is ready to throw in the towel for good. He says about Manasseh through his prophets (v. 14), “Then I will reject even the remnant of my own people who are left.” God is done, folks. The people who are left aren’t many, and God is fed up with every last one of them. Will Josiah be their hope?
Writing prompt: done
Have you ever been completely done with someone? Of course, often times when we say we’re done, we’re actually just fed up for the moment. A few deep breaths and a private cry later, we’re usually ready to try one. more. freaking. time. Thank goodness God is the same with us. However, there are times when it’s ok to be done, at least for a while (and sometimes FOR.EV.ER). Like, have you ever given someone chance after chance after chance after chance after chance … after chance! … and they just keep letting you down? Sometimes, situations like this call for some hard boundaries. And that’s ok. Even God has to (unfortunately) draw boundaries sometimes! Write about a time when you have had to draw some hard boundaries with a person, or maybe write about how you NEED to draw some hard boundaries with a particular person. Ask God to help you see what you need to see and do what you need to do.
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