Today’s Reading: Judges 17-18; Psalm 76

There was a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. One day he said to his mother, “I heard you place a curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from you. Well, I have the money. I was the one who took it.”

“The Lord bless you for admitting it,” his mother replied. He returned the money to her, and she said, “I now dedicate these silver coins to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an image carved and an idol cast.”

So when he returned the money to his mother, she took 200 silver coins and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into an image and an idol. And these were placed in Micah’s house. Micah set up a shrine for the idol, and he made a sacred ephod and some household idols. Then he installed one of his sons as his personal priest. — Judges 17:1-5

Proud of her son, Micah’s mother called on the Lord to bless her son for his truthfulness and restitution. She said she was going to use the coins as a dedication to the Lord, but instead she turned around and made it all about honoring her son. She even went as far as to create an idol for her family to commemorate what a grand gesture her son had made, all the while dishonoring the God who said:

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected — even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.” — Deuteronomy 5:8-10

WE CANNOT EXPECT GOD TO BLESS US WHILE WE BOLDLY LIVE IN DISOBEDIENCE.

I can respectfully acknowledge Micah’s honesty, but everything goes downhill after his confession. Enjoying the recognition he was receiving, Micah created a shrine and instituted religious activities around his new idol by establishing one of his sons as his priest. He later met a Levite who was looking to relocate to a new area, and Micah invited him to stay and be his false priest. This invitation should have repulsed the man whose tribe had been set apart to serve God, but something about the terms appealed to the man and he accepted.

So Micah installed the Levite as his personal priest, and he lived in Micah’s house. “I know the Lord will bless me now,” Micah said, “because I have a Levite serving as my priest.” — Judges 17:12-13

There it is again! Micah had placed something else ahead of his worship of the one and only Creator of heaven and earth, yet he expected the Lord to bless him. He was manipulating his circumstances in order to make his sin look less ugly in God’s eyes.

The Lord detests the way of the wicked, but he loves those who pursue godliness. — Proverbs 15:9

You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. — Ephesians 5:5-6

I see our culture today reflected in the image this passage describes — not just the world’s culture but the culture of the church. We soften our stance against behavior that God has clearly described as sin and we expect Him to continue to bless us. We try to outweigh the bad with good and hope that the sum of our actions bribes God to ignore our disobedience.

But we serve a holy God who does not make allowances for sin, nor is He entertained by our excuses. We serve a God who was willing to give His one and only Son as a sacrifice for our sins in order to free us from our sinful nature. We no longer have to live out the sinful desires of our heart with the excuse that we are too weak to do better. God equips us to live in a right relationship with Him because He loves us too much to leave us in our sinful condition. Living a holy life is part of our covenant relationship with God; therefore, continuing in sin is the same as trampling on the Son of God who shed His blood for the sake of this new covenant.

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. – Hebrews 10:26-29

WE CANNOT EXPECT GOD TO BLESS US WHILE WE BOLDLY LIVE IN DISOBEDIENCE.

Lord, please forgive us for the ways in which we selfishly do what we want to do, even though you died so that we no longer need to live in slavery to our sinful nature. Forgive us for the bold ways in which we hold out our hands in expectation of your blessings when we are not willing to empty our hands of those things you have clearly defined as sin. We pray for a revival to awaken our churches from their complacency, and we ask you to give them a passion to see others experiencing the life Jesus died to give them. Thank you for your grace, thank you for your love, and thank you for your mercy. What a privilege it is to serve our Holy God, who has always been and will always be worthy of our praise. Amen.

Make vows to the Lord your God, and keep them.
Let everyone bring tribute to the Awesome One.
For he breaks the pride of princes,
and the kings of the earth fear him. – Psalm 76:11-12