Can God really redeem someone who seems too far gone?

In today's reading through 2 Kings 20–21 and 2 Chronicles 32–33, we meet two kings whose lives couldn't look more different. King Hezekiah is remembered for his faithfulness, heartfelt prayer, and remarkable trust in God. His son, Manasseh, becomes one of the most wicked kings in Israel's history—yet his story doesn't end in rebellion.

For every Christian mom praying for a wandering child, this episode is a powerful reminder that no heart is beyond the reach of God's grace.

Stephanie also explores Hezekiah's emotional response to a terminal diagnosis, the incredible engineering achievement of Hezekiah's Tunnel, the importance of pairing prayer with faithful action, and why Manasseh's repentance offers lasting hope for every family.

Whether you're following our chronological Bible reading plan, studying the Old Testament, or simply longing for encouragement as you disciple your children, this episode points us back to the God who delights to forgive the humble.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why Hezekiah's tears reveal God's compassion for our suffering.
• The surprising reason God extended Hezekiah's life by fifteen years.
• What Hezekiah's Tunnel teaches us about faith and practical obedience.
• Why Christian parents must pair prayer with intentional action.
• How one of Judah's most evil kings experienced genuine repentance.
• What Manasseh's story means for parents praying over prodigal children.
• Why no one is beyond the mercy of Jesus Christ.
• Encouragement for moms seeking to break sinful family patterns.
• A preview of the remarkable revival that comes through King Josiah.

Key Bible Passages

• 2 Kings 20–21
• 2 Chronicles 32–33
• James 2:17
• Philippians 1:21
• Psalm 56:8

A Word for Moms

If you've been faithfully praying for a son or daughter who has wandered from the Lord, don't lose heart. Manasseh's life reminds us that God specializes in rescuing people who seem impossible to reach. Keep praying. Keep trusting. The same God who humbled a rebellious king is still drawing prodigals home today.

Join Us

If The Dwelling Place encourages your walk with Christ, would you take a moment to follow the podcast, leave a review, and share this episode with another mom reading through the Bible? Your support helps more women discover God's Word and grow in their love for Jesus through Entrusted Ministries.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrusted With a Child's Heart
• The Again Podcast: Interview with Chris McKenna Part 1, Part 2
• Full-Circle Discipline Resources

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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As we turn the pages of our

Bibles back to Second Kings 20

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and 21 and Second Chronicles

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32 through 33, we'll be reminded

that you are never too far gone

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for the Lord to forgive you.

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Whether you've walked with Christ

faithfully, fallen into sin, and

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then repented, our God is gracious.

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And if you've gone through

incredible seasons of rebellion

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Speaker 32: and

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Steph: then fallen on your knees,

the Lord's arm of forgiveness

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is extended toward you as well.

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And if you're a mom deeply grieved by

the actions of your prodigal child, I

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pray that today fills you with faith

that there is hope in Jesus Christ.

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As we begin 2 Kings 20, we're

encountering the story of Hezekiah

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finding out that he's sick, and

that his illness will end in death.

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But there are a couple phrases

I want to meditate upon that

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the author of Kings presented

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The chapter begins, "In those

days Hezekiah became sick and

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was at the point of death.

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And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz,

came to him and said to him, ' Thus says

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the Lord: "Set your house in order, for

you shall die, you shall not recover."'"

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Then Hezekiah turned his face to the

wall and prayed to the Lord, saying,

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" Now, O Lord, please remember how I've

walked before you in faithfulness

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and with a whole heart, and have

done what is good in your sight."

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And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

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And before Isaiah had gone out of the

middle court, the word of the Lord

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came to him, " turn back and say to

Hezekiah, the leader of my people,

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' Thus says the Lord, the God of David

your father: I have heard your prayer.

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I have seen your tears.

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Behold, I will heal you.

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On the third day you shall go up

to the house of the Lord, and I

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will add 15 years to your life.

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I will deliver you and this city out

of the hand of the king of Assyria,

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and I will defend this city for my own

sake and for my servant David's sake.'

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The phrases that really gripped me are

that Hezekiah wept bitterly when he

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found out that his life was going to end.

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When we read through Paul's courageous

proclamation in the New Testament that for

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me to live is Christ and to die is gain,

it can make you feel that you shouldn't

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have any attachment to your life and you

should be willing to die for Christ at

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any moment And that's certainly true.

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But I think this passage of scripture

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reveals that it's understandable

that one would weep for their life.

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If you've received a scary

health diagnosis and you've

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wept bitterly about it,

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I don't want you to

feel condemned by that.

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Even Jesus in the Garden of

Gethsemane, asked God to

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spare him from a painful death.

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There's not shame in wanting to continue

to serve the Lord where you are.

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Ultimately, we do want to be

surrendered to God's plans

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As we read in Isaiah that God bottles our

tears and one day will wipe every tear

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away, this is a God that hears Hezekiah's

prayer, he doesn't say, "Stop crying."

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He says, "I hear the depth

of your pain and your prayer,

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and I'm going to answer it."

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And how long did the Lord wait

to give him this reassurance?

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Before Isaiah had even left his

house But there's something truly

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pivotal about God's response.

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He says he will answer Hezekiah's

prayer for his namesake, but also

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for his servant David's sake.

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What's fascinating is that we believe

Hezekiah did not have an heir at this

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point to continue the Davidic line.

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If he would've died, we don't know

exactly who the next king would've been.

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But because God extends his life

15 more years, three years into

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this extension, Hezekiah fathers

Manasseh, and then Manasseh becomes

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the next king in the Davidic line.

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it truly is for David's sake

that God extended his life.

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It makes you question, was this part

of God's plan all along to heal him?

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We don't know.

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But perhaps the Lord used this moment

to do something in Hezekiah's heart

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But as we've already talked about, when

he recovers and receives the gifts, he

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makes a grievous error and shows off

all that he has to the king of Babylon.

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At the end of the chapter, Isaiah issues

a strong rebuke against him, prophesying

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that everything that he showed the king

of Babylon is going to be carried away

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to Babylon, and that some of his own sons

would become eunuchs Hezekiah sinfully

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responds saying, " It's okay because there

will be peace and security in my days."

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If his sons become eunuchs,

that is a literal threat to them

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carrying out the Davidic line.

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He should not be so nearsighted to

focus on his own comfort A godly parent

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should care more about the security of

their children than of their own peace

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Let's briefly talk a little

bit more about when Sennacherib

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was coming against Hezekiah.

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He'd conquered many cities in Judah and

intended to conquer Jerusalem as well.

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In 2 Kings 20:20, we learn a

little bit more about Hezekiah's

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architectural achievements.

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The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and

all his might in how he made the pool

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and the conduit and brought water into

the city, are they not written in the

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Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

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At the end of Hezekiah's life, not

only does he receive commendation

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for his righteousness and his

pursuit of the Lord, he's also

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affirmed for his engineering feats.

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This conduit that Hezekiah

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It's a seventeen hundred foot tunnel

that flows from the Gihon Spring to

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the Pool of Siloam inside the city.

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An archeologist uncovered an inscription

that explained the exact process by

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which the builders constructed this.

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They met at the midpoint.

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Now, I've never constructed a tunnel

or a bridge, but I do remember

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hearing an account of how the

builders of the Golden Gate Bridge

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met in the middle in the early 1900s.

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this was celebrated and considered

groundbreaking, no pun intended,

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in the construction world.

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If they had been a degree or

an inch off, it could have

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thrown off the entire bridge.

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but thousands of years earlier,

Hezekiah's men met in the middle in

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their construction endeavor as well.

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And you can go and visit this point

in Jerusalem today So I especially

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appreciate that when we turn to 2

Chronicles 32, Hezekiah was willing to

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close up his own building projects so

that the enemy did not benefit from them.

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He set to work resolutely, stopping

the water supply from getting to

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the city and beginning to rebuild

the walls and reinforcing them

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and these details are so inspirational.

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Because Hezekiah is not just devoting

himself to prayer, but he also sets

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about practically defending the city.

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As Christian moms, this

is important for us too.

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You could get on your knees all day long

praying about your kids, but the Word of

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God says that faith without deeds is dead.

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We must be moved to action.

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This reminds me of when I had the

opportunity to sit down with Chris

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McKenna of Protect Young Eyes.

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He was talking about how to protect our

kids digitally, and he said the same

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idea, that prayer is the foundation of

what we do in protecting our kids, but

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it must move us to action because

I think that this digital protection

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is such an important wall that we

build as parents, I'm going to link

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that interview in our show notes

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Next we see Hezekiah's heart to encourage

others He gathers the military leaders

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and speaks encouragingly to them,

saying, "Be strong and courageous.

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Do not be afraid or dismayed before

the king of Assyria and all the

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horde that is with him, for there

are more with us than with him.

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With him is an arm of flesh, but

with us is the Lord our God to

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help us and to fight our battles."

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And the people took confidence from

the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.

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We've already read that the Lord

protects Hezekiah and Jerusalem and

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that Sennacherib goes home and is

killed by his own sons speaking of

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sons, let's look at Hezekiah's son,

Manasseh, and learn more about his reign.

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I have to admit, when I hear the name

Manasseh, I think, "Oh, he was terrible."

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But I was really thankful for an

opportunity to study him again

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because my perspective really shifted.

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As I mentioned, Manasseh was born

three years into Hezekiah's life

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extension and we're gonna read a

larger portion of his life so that

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you can hear the transformation.

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This is from 2 Chronicles 33

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Manasseh was 12 years old when he began

to reign, and he reigned 55 years in

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Jerusalem, and he did what was evil in

the sight of the Lord, according to the

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abominations of the nations whom the Lord

drove out before the people of Israel.

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For he rebuilt the high places that

his father Hezekiah had broken down,

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and he erected altars to the Baals,

and made Asheroth, and worshiped all

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the host of heaven and served them.

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And he built altars in the house of the

Lord, of which the Lord had said, " In

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Jerusalem shall my name be forever."

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And he built altars for all

the host of heaven in the two

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courts of the house of the Lord.

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And he burned his sons as an

offering in the valley of the son

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of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling

and omens and sorcery, And dealt

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with mediums and with necromancers.

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He did much evil in the sight of

the Lord, provoking him to anger.

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And the carved image of the idol that he

had made, he set in the house of God, of

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which God said to David and to Solomon

his son, " In this house and in Jerusalem,

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which I have chosen out of all the tribes

of Israel, I will put my name forever.

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And I will no more remove the foot of

Israel from the land that I appointed

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for your fathers, if only they will be

careful to do all that I have commanded

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them, all the law, the statutes,

and the rules given through Moses."

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Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants

of Jerusalem astray to do more

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evil than the nations whom the Lord

destroyed before the people of Israel.

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The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his

people, but they paid no attention.

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Therefore, the Lord brought upon them

the commanders of the army of the

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king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh

with hooks and bound him with chains

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of bronze and brought him to Babylon.

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It seems that the prodigal

son has nothing on Manasseh.

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The extent of his evil

is astounding, isn't it?

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When his dad was the first king

in hundreds of years to tear

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down those high places, it's

horrifying that he rebuilt them.

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It's an absolute affront to

God and to his father's legacy.

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and then he puts idols in the temple of

the Lord to worship them I'm amazed that

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the Lord allowed him to reign for so long.

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In 2 Kings 21:10, " And the Lord said

by His servants the prophets, 'Because

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Manasseh king of Judah has committed

these abominations and has done things

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more evil than all the Amorites did who

were before him, and has made Judah

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also to sin with his idols Therefore

thus says the Lord, the God of Israel:

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" Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem

and Judah such disaster that the ears

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of everyone who hears of it will tingle.

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And I will forsake the remnant of my

heritage and give them into the hand of

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their enemies, and they shall become a

prey and a spoil to their enemies, because

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they have done what is evil in my sight,

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and have provoked me to anger

since the day their fathers came

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out of Egypt even to this day."

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Moreover, Manasseh shed very much

innocent blood, till he had filled

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Jerusalem from one end to another.

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Manasseh had a father that did not

walk perfectly, but the trajectory

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of his life was righteousness.

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And though Manasseh had this example,

he chose to do more evil than

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the nations that were around them

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Though Joshua and the Israelites worked

hard to push the pagan nations out of

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the promised land, some remained and

had a negative impact upon the people

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But now Israel is the one being the

awful example when people are in

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difficult situations or when they're

facing the judgment of the Lord, will

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they continue in their stubborn rebellion

or will they humble their hearts?

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Let's keep reading to find out

what Manasseh's response was to

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the prophecy being fulfilled of

him being carried away to Babylon.

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2 Chronicles 33:12

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Continues his story, " And when he was

in distress, he entreated the favor of

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the Lord his God and humbled himself

greatly before the God of his fathers.

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He prayed to Him, and God was moved by his

entreaty and heard his plea and brought

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him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.

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Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God."

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Isn't this incredible that

God is so merciful toward him?

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Does this transform your perspective of

anything that you've done in your life?

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It's never been about your righteousness.

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It's been about your reliance on

Jesus' perfection and His sacrifice.

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And as I mentioned at the beginning,

if you have a child that has turned

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their back on the Lord, there is hope.

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Keep praying.

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Do not give up faith not only does

God have mercy upon Manasseh But

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he actually allows him to return to

Jerusalem When Manasseh gets back,

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Speaker 32: he again enacts

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Steph: some practical

fortifications of the city.

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But let's keep reading about his spiritual

transformation in verse 15 And he took

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away the foreign gods and the idol from

the house of the Lord, and all the altars

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that he had built on the mountain of

the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem,

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and he threw them outside of the city.

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He also restored the altar of the

Lord and offered on it sacrifices of

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peace offerings and of thanksgiving,

and he commanded Judah to serve

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the Lord, the God of Israel

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Nevertheless, the people still

sacrificed at the high places,

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but only to the Lord their God

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We can be encouraged that Manasseh

zealously undid much of the evil

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that he had brought to the nation

And that he destroyed many of

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the opportunities for idolatry.

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but there are still consequences

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and after he dies, his son

Ammon reigns in his place.

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He's twenty-two years old at the

time, which means he's been able

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to see some of the evil his father

did, but also his repentance.

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Sadly, he chooses to continue

in the wickedness of his father

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rather than his repentance.

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Amon's servants conspire against him

and put him to death in his house.

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After so many wicked kings, we had a

glimmer of hope in Hezekiah and then

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during Manasseh's long reign, there

was a wicked king on the throne again.

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But God is not done, and there is hope.

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Because after Ammon dies, the people make

Josiah king in his place, and I can't

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wait to look at his life with you later.

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Heavenly Father, we praise you for

your plentiful mercy that was on

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full display in our reading today

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We are grateful that you are available,

not expecting our perfection, but

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calling us to humility to recognize

how far we've strayed from you

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Help us to walk in a manner

that brings you honor and glory.

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And we pray we would do this in

humility, not relying upon our

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own righteousness because we know

that is a filthy rag before you

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And we pray that when we conquer and

defeat sin in our own lives, that

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our kids will not continue in the

patterns we've worked so hard to end.

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I pray particularly for the

prodigals of any mom listening.

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Fill them with an unshakable peace that

with you, it is possible for their child

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to return, You are the God of all hope,

and in you we confidently place our trust.

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But we do ask in the mighty name of

Jesus that you would draw them back,

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that any children walking in rebellion

would not be able to rest until they

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restore their relationship with you.

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Jesus, we thank you that you

are winsome and wonderful, and

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we pray for many to understand

the worthiness of following you.

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It's in your name we pray.

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Amen.