Have you ever shook your head and said: “Just a second. This is not making sense. On one hand you say you believe this but then you turn around and do the direct opposite. What am I missing in this picture? Can you enlighten me? What you’re saying is not adding up.”
Things couldn’t be much more messed up then they were back in Judges 17. Try following this story line: Micah steals money from his mother. Not knowing her son was the thief, mama curses the thief. Her boy confesses and she blesses him in the name of the Lord. He hands over the money to her and she dedicates the stolen money to the LORD to build a carved image and a metal image for spiritual worship. Mama takes the silver to the local silversmith and places her order for her idols – a wooden one and a metal one. Her son sets up a little shrine in his house with the newly acquired idols. He then thinks it would be good to make his son a priest, so he makes an ephod for him to wear and consecrates his boy to be a priest to work in the house shrine. A little later a young Levite stops by and Micah decides to hire him to work as a priest in his house as well. After all of this, Micah says: “Now I know that the LORD will do me good…” Judges 17:13.
“Pardon me, Micah? Do you think the Lord could be happy with all that confusion? Even though you invoke the Name of the Lord and dedicate your money to Him and set up a worship center in your house, do you think He is pleased with your violations of the Commandments against idols and graven images? Do you think He could be pleased with the non-Aaronic priests you have consecrated? Do you think He is pleased with your local worship center – when He only recognizes one place of worship in the Tabernacle?”
But Micah seemed very confident that the Lord would bless him for all this spiritual activity.
One verse in Judges 17 explains it all:
every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Judges 17:6
When there’s no spiritual leadership based on the Word of God, people will do what seems right in their own eyes. You can count on it – people always will do something and if the Word of God is not their guide, they will resort to their own ideas and what seems okay to them. This is how the confusion and contradictions and serious departure noted above can be explained.
Dear elder and overseer – are you providing clear spiritual leadership from the Scriptures? Are you weekly instructing believers in your charge as to what is right, what is Godly and what is Scriptural in their personal lives, in family life, in business and in assembly life? Or do you have a hands-off approach hoping everyone will find their own way? Sheep don’t have a good track record for finding their own way. They end up doing what seems okay to them and going to places that seem right in their own eyes. Eventually it produces contradictions and confusion and leads to serious departure.
As an individual Christian, live by the Book. Make the Word of God your counsel. Live within the parameters of the Scriptures and the holy life the Lord intends for you.