LOOKING FOR GOD IN THE WRONG PLACES

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse — I have that silver with me; I took it."

Then his mother said, "The Lord bless you, my son!"

When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, "I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you."

So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into the image and the idol. And they were put in Micah's house.

Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some idols and installed one of his sons as his priest. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within the clan of Judah, left that town in search of some other place to stay. On his way, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.

Micah asked him, "Where are you from?"

"I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah," he said, "and I'm looking for a place to stay."

Then Micah said to him, "Live with me and be my father and priest, and I'll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food." So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man was to him like one of his sons. Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. And Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest."

Judges 17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In life, people sometimes go a long time trying to find God. Often times, it takes so long because they look in all the wrong places.

Point and case is a man named Micah in Judges, Chapter 17. Micah isn’t unlike any other person in the world that at some time or another is overcome by a sinful action. In his case, it was the matter of money, “eleven hundred shekels of silver” to be exact, that he had stolen from his mother. We get a sense that Micah has been convicted by God for his actions, especially after he heard his mother call down a curse on whoever took the silver, for he goes to his mother and confesses that he had taken it. Surprisingly, his mother didn’t chastise him. No…instead she commends him saying, "The Lord bless you, my son!", no doubt proud of him for telling the truth.

Well, we read where Micah “returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother” after which she gives him some unusual direction saying, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you."

Wait a minute! Did I read that right? Micah’s mother will consecrate the silver to the Lord…in other words, she will make the silver holy in God’s eyes…by having Micah turn it into a carved image and idol? Huh? We get a sense here that Micah’s mother…a mother he looks up to…doesn’t have a good clue about the Lord and how He was to be followed. She certainly didn’t show any sense of understanding about God’s command to not make or worship any idols (Exodus 20:4). No gods were to be before Him.

And yet, Micah’s mother set a series of events in motion that would lead her son to look for God in all the wrong places. He certainly wasn’t going to find Him in the idol he had made by taking the “two hundred shekels of silver” she gave him to the “silversmith who made them into the image and the idol”...articles then placed in the shrine fashioned in Micah's house. He also “made an ephod and some idols” before installing “one of his sons as his priest”.

So Micah was all messed up. For he took Canaanite worship principles which used idol worshipping as its main foundation and mixed them with Israelite worship principles which involved a priest who would oversee and conduct religious worship ceremonies. Despite God saying that all priests had to come from the Levite family tree, Micah disregarded this requirement and appointed his own son as priest.

What in the world is going on here? Has Israel gone crazy? Well, sort of. Scripture tells us that during this time in Israel, everyone did as he saw fit. In other words, everyone was on their own program, satisfying their own wants and needs apart from God. This explains why Micah and his mother had no problem fashioning an image and idol from silver…why they saw no issue with having their own private shrine to worship their idols…and why they didn’t see any problem with ordaining one of their own family members as priest. In other words, they did everything as they saw fit.

I often wonder if our world isn’t getting the same way today. It seems more and more that everyone is doing everything as they see fit…void of God’s guidance and direction. Things are becoming more about ‘I and me’ than ‘we and us’…and I have to think this not only angers God but saddens Him as well.

Indeed, Micah, his mother, his priest-appointed son thought they could find God in an idol or a shrine. They were looking for God in all the wrong places.

Well, the remainder of the scripture passage centers on a man who Micah encountered…”a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been living within the clan of Judah” and decided to leave “that town in search of some other place to stay”. After inquiring where the man had come from, Micah learned that he was a Levite and automatically gave the man a proposal saying, “Live with me and be my father and priest, and I'll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food", conditions the Levite agreed to. Scripture then tells us that “Micah installed the Levite and the young man became his priest and lived in his house” and proclaimed “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest." In other words, Micah now would find his favor with God through his newly appointed Levite priest. Unfortunately, Micah still didn’t get it. He was looking for God in the wrong place.

Friends, if we want to find God and have a personal relationship with Him, we don’t need human being or any object. There isn’t some secret passage to God through anything this world has to offer.

No…we serve a God who desires and requires a personal commitment and relationship with every man and woman He creates. One-on-one. God communing and fellowshipping with His people individually and pointing us toward His Son Jesus, the only One through which we can be saved (John 3:16)…the only One through which we can come to God the Father. (John 14:6)

Where do you stand in your relationship with Him? Are you like Micah…looking for God in anyone or anything he can find? Or are you looking in the right places?

Know and trust this…that God is near you…as close as your next breath…and always just a prayer away. And that’s good news. Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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