Lesson 4: A Call to Break the Pattern

Youth Development Studies on Personal Values, Goal Setting and Decision-Making

By Gary Petty

Maybe you've read the book or seen the movie The Prince and the Pauper. The story is about a young prince who is in training to be king. He finds his life in the castle with all of its riches and ceremony stifling. He longs to get away. One day he comes across a poor, homeless boy who looks just like him. The prince decides to change places with the street urchin.

Once on the street, the prince finds his usual privileges mean nothing. There is poverty and crime. He finally decides to return to the palace to claim his throne and use his position to try to change his nation's poverty.

The Prince and the Pauper is fiction, but there are numerous real historical cases where a young person became a ruler over a nation. Let's look at two such cases in the history of ancient Israel recorded in the Bible.

A child becomes a king

Around 697 B.C. a 12-year-old boy named Manasseh became king over the nation of Judah. He would reign for 55 years.

During the early years of his reign Manasseh turned against God and caused the Jewish people to worship the gods of the nations around them. An idol was set up in the temple (which was supposed to be dedicated to God). He even participated in witchcraft and sacrificed children to idols. The Bible states, "And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen" (2 Chronicles 33:10).

The result was that God withdrew His protection over Judah. The Assyrians, a warlike people from Mesopotamia, invaded the land. The Assyrian ruler chained Manasseh, put a ring through his nose and led him through the streets.

Manasseh found himself imprisoned and destitute in a foreign land and cried out to God to forgive him. God responded by causing the Assyrian king to allow him to return to rulership in Judah. Manasseh tore down the idols and commanded the people to worship the one true God.

After Manasseh's death his son Amon became king. Amon didn't learn from his father's experiences and tried to lead the people of Judah back into worshipping false gods. A conspiracy formed against him and he was assassinated. Amon's 8-year-old son Josiah became king (2 Chronicles 33).

King Josiah

Two young rulers had been given a chance to change society—to help the poor, to fight crime, to bring people to God. They both failed. Josiah would have to choose either to continue the pattern of failure or to lead his people in God's way.

The Bible tells his decision: "And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left" (2 Chronicles 34:2).

At age 16 Josiah not only followed the wise counsel of his advisors, but he sought a personal relationship with God. Chronicles continues, "For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David" (verse 3). By age 20 he began to destroy all the temples and idols his father had established in Judah. In his 18th year as king, Josiah began to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem which had fallen into disrepair (2 Chronicles 34:1–17).

It was at this time that Josiah was given a copy of the Torah. When Josiah heard what God had inspired to be written, he gathered all the people together and read God's instructions to them. Josiah became one of the greatest kings of Judah because he led the people to renew their covenant with God (2 Chronicles 34–35).

Making the world a better place

Each new generation claims that they're not going to make the same mistakes their parents made. They promise to break the patterns of failure set by previous generations. They want to make the world a better place.

Today, in many ways, you have many more things than your parents and grandparents had when they were young. Things like televisions, cars, computers, money and opportunities for education. But is the world a better place to live? Why can't we stop drive-by shootings, illegal drug use, broken homes, divorce, poverty and racism? These patterns are much harder to change than economic ones.

God is looking for young people who are willing to break the pattern. God is looking for young people who see the evil in the world and want to change it.

Where do I start?

Young Josiah was faced with the responsibility of governing a nation. The decision he made as a child would determine how he would rule the rest of his life. In 2 Kings 23:25 it summarizes his approach, "Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the L ord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him."

The starting point is to turn to God with all your heart, soul and might. God gives us life and everything good. But how do you seek God? An occasional sleepy prayer or just going to church isn't seeking God with all your heart, soul and might. To seek God means to search for His way for your life. It means to want to talk with Him and respond to Him with all your thoughts, actions and energy.

God is going to change the world one person at a time. Are you ready for the challenge?

1. 2 Chronicles 33:1–20: What can we learn from the life of Manasseh?

2. 2 Chronicles 33:20–25: What can we learn from the life of Amon?

3. 2 Chronicles 34:1–7: Josiah, Manasseh's grandson, broke the pattern because he sought God. How does a person seek God?

4. 2 Chronicles 34:8–28: How did Josiah respond to the Book of the Law? How do most young people you know respond to hearing the Bible quoted?

5. 2 Kings 23:24–25: How does a person turn to God with all his heart? How does a person turn to God with all his soul? How does a person turn to God with all his might?

6. 2 Chronicles 35:20–26: Why do you think God didn't protect Josiah?

7. What can a young person do today to make sure this generation doesn't make the same mistakes of the generations before?

Wrap-up

• It is possible for a young person to have a great impact on others—both for good and evil.

• God will forgive even the most terrible person if he repents.

• God wants us to seek Him.

• God desires that we turn to Him with all of our heart, soul and might.

• Even though God loves us, sometimes He doesn't protect us from our own bad decisions.