And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them." But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel. - 2 Kings 21:7-9 (ESV)
The Asherah and other gods are being worshiped in the very place that God put His name. Manassah has spurned the glory of the Lord and has replaced it with wooden statues, mediums, and fortune-telling. I want to shake Manassah and ask him what in the world he is doing, but I realize that I too exchange the glory of God for lesser things. When I covet or lust or get unrighteously angry, I defy the character of God and replace something glorious with something shameful and despicable.
