Realising the World Hasn't Changed
Manasseh's story is an interesting one. God redeemed him, and he turned his life around, as we've seen in 2 Chronicles 33 this week. But what I found interesting as I read this chapter was that though he changed, the people under him didn't. We read in verse 17 "The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God."
Something that is often disheartening to the Christian who has a real experience of God, is the realisation that nobody else has had that experience! We often teach this at an Emmaus weekend - we tell the participants to remember that while they've had a wonderful time on this camp, they're heading back into the same dark and godless world. They shouldn't expect everybody around them to be as excited about God as they are now.
Don't Be Discouraged
I think Manasseh experienced something similar! I imagine him coming back to Jerusalem with this great conversion story, and telling his people how God saved him and redeemed him, and they all probably shrugged their shoulders. "Good for you", they might have said. "But God didn't talk to us that way".
And so even when he tears down the pagan imagery and throws all that stuff out of the city, the people still want to go to high places and make their sacrifices, which was a very pagan thing to do. God wanted sacrifices on His altar, but they wanted to go up to their old pagan stomping ground. So Manasseh allows them to do it, but instructs them to sacrifice to the LORD up there.
I wonder if it didn't dishearten him - how his people weren't catching his new love for the LORD, and his new desire to do things God's way.
Sometimes you long to see people join you on a spiritual journey, and they just aren't interested. Maybe they want to keep going to the high places and not to the altar that has come to mean so much to you.
Don't Be Pushy
I want to encourage you in two ways: first, don't be surprised or disheartened when this happens. You can't expect people to see things the way you do. God has His ways, and perhaps He is working in somebody else's life a little differently to the way He did in yours. That's okay. Don't get disheartened - keep praying, keep the relationship open, keep inviting when the time is right.
But secondly, let me say this: don't get pushy with people. If they aren't interested in your spirituality, don't push them or get defensive. Sometimes I think we do greater damage when we drag people to church, or into our spiritual journey, when they don't want to - it hardens them even more!
Perhaps Manasseh was wise not to force the people to the temple, but to allow them to find their own way. Sure, he probably called them to it at times, and spoke to them about it. But he didn't force.
Let's not be forceful Christians who bludgeon people or poke at people constantly with our Bible and our spirituality. Let's open conversations, invite and wait, and pray for God's guidance to know when to speak up and when not to.
He will guide us! And maybe we will be able to help many more Manasseh types come to faith, more by being an example than by pushing them to the altar.
