10 February 2024 – ‘Doing What Is Right…BUT In Whose Eyes?’

‘Doing What Is Right…BUT In Whose Eyes?’

BRD REFLECTIONS:

Judges 17:1-13; 18:1-31 and Psalm 38 (NIV)

(Patricia Koh, SGM APZL)

READ:

Judges 17:4-6, 12-13: “⁴ So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol. And it was put in Micah’s house. ⁵ Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest. ⁶ In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

¹² Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. ¹³ And Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.”

OBSERVE:

Radical individualism marked the period of the Judges. People looked to the self for guidance on morality and ethics. The people genuinely felt that they did what was right. They measured themselves by their own eyes.

We read in Judges 17 & 18 that Micah set up his own religion in Israel. He carved idols and images from silver stolen from his mother, built a shrine, made an ephod and household idol, and finally, Micah consecrated as his priest, first his son, then a Levite. It seemed to Micah (and his mother) it was the right thing to do. Micah’s religion was completely man-originated and man-centred. We realised Micah’s whole purpose was ultimately to serve his own interests and please himself; not to please God or further God’s kingdom priorities.

APPLY:

This pattern of self-pleasing faith is very much like our contemporary, “follow-your-heart” thinking. The Bible and common sense tell us that this kind of moral, spiritual, and social anarchy ends in destruction.

· It seemed right in the eyes of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, but God said it was wrong.

· It seemed right in the eyes of the sons of Jacob to sell Joseph into slavery, but God said it was wrong.

· It seemed right in the eyes of Nadab and Abihu to offer strange fire before the Lord, but God said it was wrong.

· It seemed right in the eyes of King David to commit adultery with Bathsheba and cover it with murder, but God said it was wrong.

DO:

I shall 

• earnestly seek to please God and seek His purpose first
• endeavour to know and yield to God’s commandments and will 
• reduce my personal defensiveness and be open to godly counsel and feedback for my behaviour from mature and wise sisters/ brothers-in-Christ

PRAY:

Dear Lord, please help me to avoid self-deception especially when I think I am doing right but inadvertently making decisions or taking actions that will cause me to deviate from Your higher purpose. Instruct me in Your humility so that I can become more God-centric and less self-centred. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

References: 

Enduring Word Bible Commentary Judges Chapter 17; 

Judges 17-18 Devotional – Micah’s Idol (spokengospel.com)