Please excuse my long
absence, keeping up with 4 grandsons, and the birth of twins, I had to do a
“stop do” list. I cannot stop having my Devo Time with the Lord, that is
deadly, but editing and setting them up as Devo Blogs had to go on that list.
Praise God the twins are safely here and I can resume trying to encourage as
many as I can to spend time in meditation with God and His Word.
Many years
ago I learned a very simple Truth, it is called “button theology!” When
putting a shirt on, if you do not get the top button in the top buttonhole,
everything else that follows will be off and the shirt will not be what it
should be. Instead of making you look sharp and together, you will appear
strange and disheveled.
This is true when it comes to what occupies the number one place in
your heart and mind! If it is not God, all of your life will be out of sync,
and the compass of your life will be off. You will not make it to the
destination you had desired to, and there will not be anyone to rescue you. We
are finishing up going through the book of Judges. When we arrived at chapter
18 we began a discussion on Idolatry, let’s review and then finish this very sad
story. When we allow idols into our life the most important issue of our heart
changes. Instead of following the wisdom Jesus shared:
Mark 12:30 and
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
When an idol has that position in your heart it shows up
clearly. Let’s review how:
·
Affect #1 Your most important question becomes:
What is in it for me?
·
Affect #2 You seek Vindication not Truth!
This will skew our view of success, which we looked at, we saw
these dangers of human success:
§ Built
on that which is temporal - God's is eternal
§ Does
not really take into consideration the cost. Cost must include accountability
to our Creator.
§ Used
as the vindication of actions.
·
Affect #3 Dedication goes to highest bidder
Jud 18:21-31 Then they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the
livestock and the valuables in front of them. When they had gone some distance from the house of Micah, the
men who were in the houses near
Micah’s house assembled and overtook the sons of Dan. They cried to the sons of Dan, who turned around and said to
Micah, “What is the matter with
you, that you have assembled together?” He
said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone
away, and what do I have besides? So how can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’ ” The sons of Dan said to him, “Do not
let your voice be heard among us, or else fierce men will fall upon you and you
will lose your life, with the lives of your household.” So the sons of Dan went on their way; and when Micah saw that
they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. Then they took what Micah had made and
the priest who had belonged to him, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and
secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burned the city
with fire. And there was no one to
deliver them, because it was
far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone, and it was in the valley
which is near Beth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city and lived in it. They called the name of the city Dan,
after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel; however, the name of
the city formerly was Laish. The
sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons
were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the
land. So they set up for themselves
Micah’s graven image which he had made, all the time that the house of God was
at Shiloh.
When Micah and his men catch up to the Danites, their response
is another classic affect when you have allowed idolatry into your life. Notice
what they say:
“What is the
matter with you, that you have assembled together?”
What a foolish
question! They know exactly why Micah is pursuing them. They have robbed him of
his idols and priest. This is the 4th affect:
Affect #4 - My desires justify my actions: “I
want it, therefore I take it!” Every thief, having put their desires
over everything else, thinks this way.
Micah’s response exposes how warped our view can become:
“He said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and
the priest”
Affect #5 Loss of
any discernment - How can you make a God? - No logic / What kind of God needs
to be rescued?
Joash made
this point in Jud 6 :
“But Joash
replied to the hostile crowd around him, "Are you going to plead Baal's
cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death
by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks
down his altar."
Micah was so blinded by idolatry that he found himself in the
terrible position this kind of thinking ends in…Helplessness! Notice what he states as he
realizes he has lost his gods and priest: The NLT communicates it clearly:
Judges 18:24 “What
do you mean, ‘What’s the matter?’ ” Micah replied. “You’ve taken away all the
gods I have made, and my priest, and I have nothing left!”
Make sure
that your god is bigger than you, because when you lose the master you have
made yourself a slave to, you will have nothing left.
Jesus
stated it well:
Matthew 6:19–21 “Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in
or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The most tragic reality is the last affect we will look at:
There the Danites
set up for themselves the idols, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for
the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land. They continued to use the idols Micah had
made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.
Affect #6 - Idolatry can and most times will be inherited! Religiosity, once
caught, is very hard to be cured from!
Meditation: What dominates your affections, your
thoughts, your energy and your time? Is a life with God integrated with all of
your days and nights? If not, be careful, it is the goal of our flesh to make
God someone we think we can control. Our flesh will fail, because God is God…but we can…like Micah and the Danites,
deceive ourselves.
