2 Kings 21 -- A Father's Heartbreak

Hezekiah’s son Manasseh had likely been seven years old when he saw God’s healing of his father, and at 8 years old, he’d seen 185,000 Assyrian soldiers slain.  His father was one of the godliest kings in Judah’s history.  So what then happened to get Manasseh so far off track and set him up to become the most wicked king in Judah’s history?

 

A godly dad’s heart breaks when his son, despite all the father has tried to pass along regarding his spiritual condition, throws it all out the window and lives a life of sin.  God probably had been merciful to Hezekiah by taking him before he could witness the full extent of his son’s sin.

 

Manasseh, in 2^nd Chronicles, made a remarkable change to his life, but it isn’t mentioned here.  He too had a son – Amon – and unfortunately, it appears that Amon’s heart had been swayed by his father’s sins  way too long.  He had no desire to have anything to do with his father’s repentance in later years.

 

Manasseh had sought to undo all of the evil he’d done at the start of his rule.  But Amon’s heart had been so influenced and sickened and hardened by his father’s evil that he actually rebuilt what his father had torn down!

 

In the two years he reigned as king, Amon seemed to try to set new records for sinning!  His son Josiah was born when Amon was just 16 years old, and Josiah was 8 when his father was assassinated.  That experience, probably along with a desire not to have an ending like his father, surely gave Josiah the motivation to seek the Lord.

 

Father, help me to have the wisdom I need to be a good father.  Please reveal to me how to best shepherd my sons and how to keep them from yielding to the temptation to sin.  Don’t let them ever feel that I have simply left them to their own devices in their battles against Satan.  I want to be there for them and to help them fight off Satan’s deceptive attacks.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford