Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Wed., 8/3/16 Devotion (Judg. 17:3)

Today's encouragement comes from Judges 17:3, where we read these words:

"So when he [Micah] had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, 'I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the LORD for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.' "

Now, here is theological confusion at its worst. Micah's mother thinks she is actually doing God a service, by asking her son to make a carved image, (something explicitly prohibited in the 2nd Commandment). On top of this, Micah gets a priest from Bethlehem to be his own "home priest," and expects that God will be pleased with this(!), (see v. 13).

Why all this sad confusion? Because "everyone did what was right in his own eyes," (v. 6b). In those days, this was because there was no king in Israel. Even today, when there are no good clergymen in the churches, the same kinds of heresies and calamities happen.

[Puritan quote of the day: "Conscience is like a bee: If a man does well, it gives honey; if ill, it puts forth a sting.” —Thomas Watson, in his sermon, "A Plea for the Godly"]