The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 17:13,
"Now I [Micah] know that the Lord will be good to me, since this
Levite has become my priest."
A misguided man, Micah felt his hiring of a Levite to be his personal
priest would bring him "good" from the Lord. Only Aaron's descendants
(Aaron was a Levite himself) were acceptable as priests to serve
before God. This wandering Levite Micah hired was not a priest, else
he would have been referred to as such, rather than as a Levite.
What was the nature of this "good" Micah was seeking from the Lord?
What most of us, those who have embraced the Lord in faith, seek from
the Lord, is a standing of righteousness before him. This is the
burning passion and the great need we all have. If we leave this life
without a righteous standing before the Lord, we face the inevitable
judgment of that lake of burning sulfur we read about in Revelation 20
and 21. If we have a standing of righteous before him we are enabled
to join the Lord's kingdom, his family, to have a place at his table.
We will have an eternity to enjoy the Lord, to live our lives to the
fullest in a manner that reflects the purposefulness and meaning for
our lives our Creator has always intended and designed us for. All
this he gives us, guaranteed in a righteous standing before him
provided us if we embrace Jesus Christ in faith.
It is my personal persuasion that this is not the "good" Micah sought
from the Lord. What we know of Micah is that he was not a savory
individual. He was a thief and a deceiver. The kind of thief that felt
no compunction about stealing from his own mother and hiding her
silver. It was only the perceived threat of a curse upon himself that
he returned what he had stolen from her. I wonder what else he had
been stealing from the neighbors, business associates, etc.?
I think it more likely that what Micah sought from the Lord in hiring
a "priest" was something more along the lines of what kinds of goodies
the Lord might give him in this life. I could be wrong about this
because we really don't know much of Micah's background. What is
provided us does not place him in good light. I can't help but think
that Micah was busy looking for what he could get for himself in the
way of riches and pleasures in this life and attempting to tap the
Lord to acquire it was a natural move on his part.
I think we have all been exposed to those who emulate Micah today and
provide for us a sense of what Micah was all about. Today in the
church, we have those whose primary interests in the Lord appear to be
what the Lord might provide them. Things such as (putting it politely)
"financial security", a nice sounding phrase to mask avarice. Possibly
a congregation full of church-goers that represent "business contacts"
or a new source of dating contacts for the lonely. I'm quite sure you
can add your own observations to the list of those who appear to "seek
the Lord" for what might benefit them in a self-serving way in this
life. These folks are just as misguided as Micah was.
The Lord loves us and sent his Son to die a miserable death to pay for
our sins. He offers us a righteous standing with him through faith
that makes it possible for us to enter into his kingdom, his family,
have a place at his table. I am quite certain he desires to bless us,
not only in the life to come, the resurrection, but this life as well.
However, it is when we displace the Lord for those goodies in our
desires in seeking him, we find ourselves as misguided as Micah.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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