DCLM Daily Manna Friday 31 March 2023
TOPIC: Old Habit
KEY VERSE:
“And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal”
(2 Kings 17:16).
TEXT: 2 KINGS 17:9-23
Several elderly nuns were on the second floor of their convent one night when a fire broke out. When the nuns realised the fire was blocking the exit, they took their habits (a long loose garment worn by members of a religious order) off, tied them together to make a rope, and climbed out of the window. After they were safely on the ground, a news reporter asked one of the nuns, ‘Weren’t you afraid that the habits could have ripped or broke since they are old? The nun replied, “Not at all, don’t you know that old habits are hard to break?”
From the passage, we read about the eventual destruction of Israel due to the same old sin of idolatry. Since they had made a habit of worshipping other gods and bowing down to them, the Lord finally put them away out of His sight. The northern kingdom was first to break away from the ordained worship at the temple at Jerusalem, on Jeroboam’s instructions. Two images were then placed, one in Dan and the other at Bethel to serve as their new gods. God sent prophets, seers and preachers to warn them of the consequences of their actions. Finding no positive response, the Lord allowed them to be carried into captivity. Judah soon followed suit, and met the same fate. The land of Israel was now left desolate in fulfilment of the Scriptures.
The children of Israel had struggled with idolatry since they left Egypt. They made a golden calf in the wilderness, and rebelled against God when ten of the spies, sent ahead to spy out the Promised Land returned with a negative report. Their progress was then delayed, and they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. When they eventually got to the land of promise, they continued in the practices of the heathen nations around them. Their old habits destroyed them eventually.
Old habits, they say, are hard, but not impossible to break; especially when one comes to Christ for heart transformation.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Like the chain of the demoniac, bad habits are broken when brought to Christ.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JOHN 1 – 3
