-
Did You Once Serve? Can You Serve Again?The Watchtower—2009 | August 15
-
-
If your loss of a privilege was due to wrongdoing on your part, you may wonder whether Jehovah and your Christian brothers will ever truly forgive and forget. Well, consider the case of King Manasseh of Judah. He “did on a large scale what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, to offend him.” (2 Ki. 21:6) Yet, Manasseh died a faithful man, ruling as king. How did this happen?
Manasseh eventually responded to discipline. After he had ignored warnings, Jehovah brought against him the Assyrians, who fettered him and exiled him to distant Babylon. There, Manasseh “softened the face of Jehovah his God and kept humbling himself greatly because of the God of his forefathers. And he kept praying to Him.” Repentance from the heart produced fruitage in deeds, and Manasseh was forgiven.—2 Chron. 33:12, 13.
-
-
Did You Once Serve? Can You Serve Again?The Watchtower—2009 | August 15
-
-
Accept discipline. Manasseh may initially have felt that he did not deserve quite so severe a reproof as he received. Yet, he accepted it, repented, and abandoned his wrong course. Regardless of how you feel about the discipline you received, ‘humble yourself in the eyes of Jehovah, and he will exalt you.’—1 Pet. 5:6; Jas. 4:10.
-