Judges 17-18 / Psalm 145 “Being Religious on Our Own Terms”

READ: Judges 17-18 / Psalm 145

Verse chosen for meditation: Judges 17:5-6

⁵ And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons, who became his priest. ⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

REFLECT

This section of Judges continues the theme of political and religious irregularity, with moral standards spiralling downwards. Just that from this point on, no more judges will be raised, and everyone did what they think was right without much governance. It’s basically relativism in ancient times, and we see what relativism can lead to, when not kept in check.

The irony in v6 was that the king (our God) was always in Israel, just that His ways were rejected, and His availability ignored. On surface, it seemed the chaos and sheer human depravity of that period was due to the lack of a human king, but the true cause was disobedience to the divine King.

In such a time, we’re introduced to Micah and very quickly we see his moral flaws, in his theft, and then only admitting out of fear of his mother’s curse. His mother pledged 100% of the recovered (but tainted) money to honour God (in a rather idolatrous way) but did not even give close to that amount. In v5, we were told of how Micah prepared the infrastructure to worship God, and even appointed his son as priest. We see efforts from both mother and son in being religious and they probably felt good and safe in their piety. How did God view this?

RELATE

Were Micah and his mother innocently ignorant of how they should carry out worship? Hence, it was not a question of attitude, but lack of knowledge? I doubt it. The law to them has always been clear just like how the Bible is to us, but we just don’t like to do what God says. It’s not that we are blatantly defiant, but our disobedience takes a more subtle dangerous form, one where we convince ourselves we are doing it right, when it really is being religious on our own terms. Terms we are comfortable with, and we think God is ok with when He really is not. Worship must be on God’s terms, not ours.

How did Micah worship on his own terms and why was it dangerous? First, it was the carved images (Judges 17:4). This is like the golden calf sin in Exodus. What they thought was honouring God was instead idolatry, limiting God to an image they like, reducing him and thereby try to tame and control him. Such is the danger of idolatry. We can do it thinking God appreciates it. It is easy to point out the obvious materialistic idols in the toys of our lives: the clothes, bags, cars, lavish meals, exotic trips, houses, etc. The most dangerous ones though are the religious idols, and things that put us in good light. It can be the success of our church, our financial generosity, our biblical knowledge, our spiritual gifts, our involvements in church or even Bible reading. Closer to home, it can be our family life, our marriage, or the achievements of our children. Once we fall in love with these healthy and godly elements more than with God himself, letting these usurp Him as our no. 1 love, we are casting our idol, just as Micah did.

Secondly, Micah made it very convenient for himself to worship. It was clear where people had to go to worship at that time, which was the Tent of Meeting, located at Shiloh in Micah’s time (Judges 18:31). Rather than make long journeys or bother with costly animal sacrifices and the hassle of finding one without blemish, it was so much easier to do it at home. Both mother and son were sincere in their religious expression (though not enough to travel to Shiloh), but very pagan in their actions, and they didn’t realise God’s displeasure with this.

This is very familiar territory, with how we have gotten used to online worship when Covid hit and having easy access to many media forms of Christian content, such that they can now easily replace how we worship or spend time with God. We do not have geographical constraints today for worship due to the NT revelation, but we are not free to worship God any way we please. Online worship is not bad, and God uses this to reach certain people groups, for e.g., those with physical disabilities, or those who, unfortunately, feel rejected by churches. I’m thankful for this as those who want to truly worship but could not previously, could do so now.

What about the rest of us? The Bible has been clear that worship and fellowship are meant to be communal. We are encouraged to gather for good reason. It’s not to generate more vibrancy so we can ‘feel’ more spiritual, but accountability and commitment to our community keeps our focus on God and His mission. We build each other up, edify and allow others to keep us in check. Left alone, we are prone to multiple distractions and temptations. Resources are provided for the sake of advancing His kingdom, but let’s be careful not to use them as substitutes to God’s terms.

Some of us have personal valid reasons for alternative arrangements of worship and in serving, so it is not our place to judge others. We look only at ourselves whether it is indeed valid or whether it’s on our own comfortable terms, for God knows our hearts best.

REST

Father, just as king David prayed, examine my heart and motives behind my service, and reveal anything that’s undesirable to me, to lead me in the way everlasting. Amen.

Chris Chong