No compromise

II Chronicles 33:16b-17 [He] … told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.  The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

After King Manasseh’s wickedness and repentance, God brought restoration to him, and that is when he began leading the Israelites out of their spiritual wickedness.  The damage was not easily undone, as seen in this verse.  It appears that the people tried to compromise rather than make a clean break with their waywardness.  They kept the “high places” where the sacrifices to idols had been made, and used them to worship God.  Even though God had commanded them to only worship Him at the tabernacle and had commanded that all “high places” be destroyed, they continued to use them.  It is so easy for us to compromise the un-compromisable things unless we determine to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and thus protect ourselves from such compromises.  It is just too dangerous, spiritually, to do so.