My heart cringes when I come to the account of Manasseh. He is vile and evil, the low point of Judah’s history. Verse 9 sums him up: Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
Reading scripture devotionally, especially in the Old Testament, I routinely ask myself, “would I like to emulate the person mentioned in the text or would I like to be remembered like the person in the text.” With Manasseh I have an immediate and definite NO!
It is bad enough that he committed the sins mentioned in this chapter, but heaping insult on top of injury, Manasseh led the people to practice these detestable practices too!
Manasseh fails as a follower of and leader for the Lord.
Manasseh does remind me of the influence that a leader has for good or for evil.
The people had 29 years of faithful leadership by Hezekiah. I would have thought that Hezekiah godliness might have placed the people on solid footing with the Lord, but Manasseh comes along and undermines all of the godliness Hezekiah put in place.
I am reminded of Jesus’ Words, that the people were like sheep without a shepherd. Sheep without a shepherd will follow any shepherd that shows or asserts leadership, whether the leadership is good or bad!
Leadership matters. It mattered back in OT days. It mattered back in NT days. It matters today.
If you are a leader… your leadership matters. You can lead people well or poorly. And you can lead people toward things that are good and things that are bad. Manasseh it seems was a good leader, in that he could rally people to a cause. But the direction of his leadership was ungodly and poor!
Spiritual leaders can lead people toward faithfulness or unfaithfulness.
And so the Lord challenges me to lead well and also to lead people toward ever deepening faithfulness.
I have much to ponder and contemplate today from Manasseh’s story.
Lord, I know if I follow You, You will lead me in paths of righteousness for Your name sake. I pray, Oh, Lord, that as You lead me I am able to lead the people of my church and those in my sphere of influence on paths of righteousness for Your honor and glory. For this, Oh, Lord, I pray that I am attentive to the Holy Spirit… in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I pray. Amen.
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