2 Chronicles 33

And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen.

(2Ch 33:10)

Fingers pressed firmly into your ears, mouth opened wide, you chant loudly “NANANANANANA… I’M NOT LISTENING”. We’ve all seen it if we haven’t done it, and I believe that we are often doing it in our hearts when we would never dare to do it with our lips. Maybe your teacher is talking and you don’t want to hear it, so you are just chanting in your mind “boring, boring, she is SOOOOOOOOOO BORING”. Or maybe your parents are telling you AGAIN to clean your room and inside you are saying “shut up and leave me alone!”

Don’t act shocked we all do it from time to time. It is never right for us to ignore what someone else is saying, nor would we want someone to act this way when we are talking, yet we do it. In essence this is what Manasseh was doing to the Lord. He was REFUSING to hear what God had to say. We read it right here, the Lord was speaking, but Manasseh and his people REFUSED TO LISTEN.

Now, if Manasseh had realized the nature of what God wanted to communicate, I think his response may have been quite different. You see, the Lord was trying to warn Manasseh of the certain destruction that was waiting if he didn’t repent… but Manasseh was to busy enjoying his fleshly lifestyle to really pay any attention. So what happened? Did the Lord abandon Manasseh or give up on him?

No, instead the Lord GOT MANASSEH’S ATTENTION. The Lord has ways of getting our attention when we won’t listen. Often those ways are painful, and they are NEVER fun. He doesn’t do it to hurt us, but to help us… He DISCIPLINES us to save us from DESTRUCTION. Manasseh’s discipline was rough, but it achieved the desired results… he repented!

You and I have a choice. We can LISTEN to the Lord, and respond in faith; or we can ignore Him and do what we want. If we listen now, we will be spared a lot of the pain we will go through as God attempts to get our attention. His message will come through… the question is will He be able to whisper it in your ear or will He have to shout it through a megaphone?