8/23 Strength for Today

Forgotten Manners


2 Kings 17:26

“Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.”


One of God's repeated commands to Israel was to teach their children the manners and customs of God. In Deuteronomy 11:18-21, God commanded Israel to teach these manners to their children in the house, and as they walk through the streets, when they go to bed at night and when they wake up in the morning. God commanded them in these verses to write His commands upon the doorposts of their homes. The whole purpose for this was so that every generation would know the manner in which God wanted them to live.


In the verse above we find that there was a generation that failed to follow this command. It says about Israel that they “...know not the manner of the God of the land...” What a sad statement! If any people should have known the commands and manners of God, Israel should have known them. Yet, somewhere someone did not take the time to pass along these manners to their children, and the result was bondage.


I find there were three reasons why these people did not know the manners of God. First of all, the parents didn't teach the manner of God to their children. For whatever reason, the parents either forgot or did not think it was that important to teach the manner of God to their children, thus, a whole generation did not know them.


Secondly, the preachers didn't preach the manner of God. Most likely the manner of God was not a popular subject to preach. Most likely the manner of God was controversial, and not politically correct. So, instead of preaching the manner of God, these preachers preached a feel-good, easy listening sermon that eventually led God's people into bondage.


The third reason was someone decided to change their history and the manner in which they did things. Someone probably thought they had a better way than God, and that better way led to Israel's bondage.


Christian, God has a manner of how He expects you to live. It is not our place to try and change this manner. Whether or not we like it is not the issue; it is commanded by God to follow. Beware of preachers and people who change the manner of God. O, those who try to change the manner of God will always color-coat their change by saying they are trying to improve upon what you are currently doing, but you cannot improve upon the old-time religion. Be careful that you don't let the old-time religion cease to exist in your nation or church because you don't teach it to your children.


The first responsibility of passing along the old-time religion is to the parents. Then the second responsibility of passing along the old-time religion falls upon the preachers. Let's be careful that we are not the generation that fails to teach the manner of God to the next generation. Let's teach it, live it, talk about it and pass it along so that it will not be said about the next generation that they don't know the manner of God.