Distressing Signals

“The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.” (2 Chronicles 33:10-11)

God was sending a message.  

But Manasseh wasn’t paying attention. 

So God sent an army. Assyria captured Manasseh so that God could capture his attention.

Mere words didn’t work for Manasseh. He needed a “hook”—a pain point to pull his attention heavenward. 

The Father knows that sometimes, we need something sharper than a spoken message. When we insist on doing things our own way year after year, he patiently waits. After countless missed calls, he sends a distressing signal to capture our attention.

In the relational strain, the Groom reaches out his hand: “Come to me …” (Matthew 11:28).

In the physical pain, the Messiah pulls us into his pace: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29).

In the demonic oppression, the Physician insists on a deeper healing than we wanted for ourselves: “Go in peace, and be healed …” (Mark 5:34).

“And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.” (2 Chronicles 33:12-13)

A moment of distress brought Manasseh from a habit of sorcery, child sacrifice, and idolatry into a genuine fear of the Lord.

This is the life-changing power of a distressing signal—if only we will let it direct our attention to the Lord.

The temptation is to push through the distress with more activity. In the prison cell, where God brings motion to a halt, we invent diversions for ourselves to avoid the “one necessary thing.” We spend our time in the belly of the fish planning our escape. 

But activity will never atone. Hurry will never heal. Distraction will never end the distress.

The distress comes to end the distraction.

The Lord sends a distressing signal so that we will stop, look up, and listen to the message he has been sending all along.