A king who spent fifty-five years doing the exact opposite of his godly father ends up in chains, dragged off to Babylon, and only there does the real part of his story begin. This sermon reads the life of Manasseh in Second Chronicles as an account of listening to God, of the weight carried by one small word, if, and of a return that seemed impossible (2 Chronicles 33). His name means to forget, yet it was he who, in the darkness of a prison, remembered who the true God is. Listen if you think it is already too late for your own life.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- According to 2 Chronicles 33:1-10, what did Manasseh do in the early years of his reign, and how did his choices affect the whole people of Judah?
- What led Manasseh to pray and humble himself before God while captive in Babylon, and what does God's willingness to hear his plea tell us about God?
- The speaker pointed out that the Hebrew word for 'listen' means bending in to understand what God says, not just hearing it. What in your life makes that kind of listening to God's Word hardest?
- Manasseh's name is connected with forgetting. What about your relationship with God do you most easily forget when you are busy with everyday responsibilities?
- After his return, Manasseh spent the rest of his life rebuilding what he had destroyed. What does the truth that it is never too late mean for you, and what in your life might need rebuilding?
- What one concrete step will you take this week to listen to God in His Word, perhaps by reading the Bible out loud, or to turn back to Him in an area where you are drifting?
