Twisted

Sept. 25

Read: Judges 17 (It’s short!)

Twisted

“And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD.” (v.2)

There is NO blessing from the Lord to be had in the midst of corruption and crooked behavior. This is the perversion of the enemy and the sinful nature within us: the darkness is made to seem as light, and the true light is rejected as darkness. (Once again, this is why Satan “masquerades as an angel of light”; cf. 2 Cor. 11:13-15) The final chapters of the book of Judges are some of the saddest and most desperate in the scriptures. Corruption runs rampant amongst the people of God, and they turn on each other… There is no need for a foreign oppressor because civil disruption is horrible enough. The odd story of Micah gives us insight into this broken time.

Sin has often been described as “doing what is right in your OWN EYES.” This is how it is described here: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (v.6) In the absence of leadership and direction (cf. “there was no King in Israel”) our natural drift is to do what is right in our own eyes. We become our own gods. The people of God are not immune to this behavior. When we lose sight of Christ as our example, our guiding force - the “author and finisher of our faith” and the “head of God’s people, the Church” - we are prone to the same thing. (cf.Hebrews 12, Eph. 5:23) We take matters into our own hands… we take what we want - more pointedly we attempt to STEAL what we want.

Micah stole 1,100 pieces of silver from his own mother! What was it that Micah wanted that he took matters into his own hands to get? What a convoluted account! After hearing the curse of his mother - and knowing that curse was actually upon HIM - he comes clean to her. Look at her response: “Blessed be my son by the Lord” (v.2) What !?! How does she think there will be blessing in lying and stealing? His confession may be admirable, but is that what she expects to warrant blessing from the Lord? It is so twisted. Does she think her request for “blessing” will counter her utterance of a “curse” from before? (Curses and blessings are a whole other topic aren’t they?) The point is this, there is no blessing to be had by taking matters into your own hands… attempting to “steal” what you long for, although repentance and confession are good and right. They restore relationships and lead to the opportunity for future growth and blessing.

Here is another truth: There is no fullness in the Lord for those who “withhold” anything from Him. The Mother’s response seems suspect, as she declares that her intention was to commit that silver to the Lord anyways. (v.3) So when Micah gives her the money back, she takes 200 of the 1,100 pieces of silver and purchases a carved image and a metal image. (v.4) She is ambiguous in mentioning the “silver” in general… and ends up giving only a small portion of it! There are all kinds of ways a right offering could have been made to the Lord. He does not ask us to manufacture graven images of him. This is another attempt to purchase or take for ourselves what we want. If Micah and his Mother wanted to be near to the Lord - God had provided many RIGHT ways to worship him. Instead, they continue to manipulate and attempt to create for themselves what they long for! There is no true surrender to the Lord. There is no “all in” from them in trusting the Lord.

In a final twist, Micah attempts to make his son his priest! Micah is not a Levite (priestly tribe of Aaron) and therefore this is not pleasing to God. Furthermore, how odd it is to entrust spiritual leadership to your son! Yet another desperate attempt to take hold of what he longs for. Micah is looking for all these trapping to bring him closer to God or to find favor with God. He is seeking to build his own little “system” to draw near to God… or is there something else he longs for? I am afraid that what Micah actually longs for is not a relationship with God but rather the idea that God could be co-opted to bless his own human endeavors… he wants what he was going to buy with that stolen 1,100 pieces of Silver! We see his true heat come through later on when he declares: “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.” (v.13)

God’s nearness and relationship is something FREELY GIVEN. His blessing and provision is poured out upon his children. We need only trust and follow HIM. There is no life to be had in taking matters into our own hands… “doing what is right in our own eyes”. There is no blessing from the Lord in stealing - attempting to take what has not been given to us. What is it that you long for? Have you even asked the Lord for it? Have you spoken to the Lord about the desires of your heart? Sometimes we try to “purchase” the presence of God. Micah tried to set up a shrine, create an ephod, pay for graven images and silver statues, and even surrender the role of spiritual leader “priest” to his son! Imagine putting the responsibility of spiritual leadership onto those who are younger instead of leading as an elder who is mature in the Lord. All of this was unnecessary. God didn’t ask him for any of it. These efforts were not pleasing to God, and they won’t accomplish what his heart longs for. When we don’t get what we want, our true heart and nature will rise to the top. When we suffer “losses”, it will reveal who we truly are. When we face need (think of whatever Micah wanted that drove him to steal) we will either come to the Lord in prayer or we will try to take from others to get what we want. When we think we have been “robbed” (think of Micah’s mom) we will either turn to the Lord in prayer or become bitter and “curse”. When we lean into God’s provision and blessing, we lean AWAY from stealing from others and taking matters into our own hands. We must only see to “draw near to the Lord and he will draw near to you.” (James 4:8) You cannot “purchase” God’s presence nor manipulate his blessing - he FREELY gives it! Love you guys. - JDP