Today's reading in Judges 17:1-21:25 is a picture of how idolatry (wrong believes) will always lead to sin and immorality (wrong behavior)

The story starts with a son, Micah from Ephraim, stealing 1,100 shekels from his own mother. He returns the money to her and she's so delighted that she uses it to make and idol which she gives to Micah for the private altar he has set up in his home.

The sin starts with a man who steals money from his mother, then it is carried over to a Levite who becomes a private chaplain, first to a family  and then to a whole tribe- without any proper appointment nor authorisation. 

Well, it seems that time has not changed human nature, wouldn't you agree? Today we can see, just as in Micah's days, everyone putting her/his own interest first. People in our society still reject God's right ways of living.

What is your idol? An idol is anything that takes God's place in a person's life...call it pursuit of money, success, possessions, career, spouse, children...and the list goes on.

People in Micah's days, replaced true worship with some kind of "homemade" version of it. They even got to the extent of stop supporting the priests and levites with their tithes they were no longer worshipping God.

The result of this? Justice was replaced by revenge and chaos. Ignoring God's direction will always lead  to confusion and destruction

When  men from Dan took Micah's idols and priest (Judges 18:24) , nothing remained!! this becomes a powerful truth in our lives! We invest so much energy into pursuing money, success, possessions, or a career, that if these "idols" are taken away, only an empty shell will remain!.

The only way we can protect ourselves against such loss is to invest our lives in God, whom we can never lose!

The moment we get away from God and his word, all sorts of evil can follow, we drift away slowly and almost imperceptibly, with the ultimate consequences affecting our future generations.

Our mission while we're on earth is to continuously call our nations back to God and work to establish God's spiritual kingdom in the heart of every person, amen!

Have a blessed weekend sisters,

Angie