Divine Direction

Based on Judges 17-18, Psalm 48

"In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Judges 17:6

Sometimes we think it would be a great world if our choices were left up to us individually...if there was no one above us telling us what to do...but think, if each individual could be governed by their own opinion, how would this world ever come to any agreement? How could we even function? More than a secure government in place, we need to be secure in God and seek His divine direction!

In this reading, this was a time when there was no king in Israel. Honestly, it was just a matter of Israel deciding not to honor God as their true King. One young man we come across is Micah. He stole some money from his mother, which was wrong, but when he comes clean about it, his mother decides to build idols with the restored money-is anyone in the right in this situation??

"Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest." Judges 17:4‭-‬5

There was no order except that which was created by man. Micah did not have authority to make his son a priest, especially in the worship of idols! Another man, a Levite, ends up coming Micah's way, and Micah claims him as his priest instead:

"And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest." Judges 17:12‭-‬13

There is but a small glimmer of hope as we see that Micah still desires The Lord's favor, yet he is going about it in the wrong way-and why is that? It's because if we truly want to get closer to God and gain His favor, we need to seek Him through ways of worship which please HIM! An idol will not save us...only God can! Also...the Levite more than anyone should have known where his place was, in serving in the temple of God...but without a God-ordained king, and without seeking divine direction from God Himself, he just wandered away and was hired by Micah-no sense of purpose or direction!

"And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house. And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire."
Judges 18:26‭-‬27

The tribe of Dan was seeking out a place to claim for their inheritance, and they were not exactly directed of God either. However, they did recognize the Levite priest when they saw him at Micah's house. They felt that he would be much better off being a priest over their tribe than just over Micah, since he was only one person. So, they decided to take him away, along with all the idols in Micah's house. According to a commentary, Micah had to try to save his own gods in this situation! Hopefully, this was an eye-opener for him!

"And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh."
Judges 18:30‭-‬31

Dan did not steal the idols to destroy them. The tribe of Dan stole the idols to worship them also! There really is no victory in this passage, because there is no purpose. No one was seeking the divine direction of God. Our own wisdom & strength can only bring us so far, as we discovered with Samson as well...God alone will bring us to a place of salvation and prosperity! Nothing else we have in this life will do that for us! Most of all, we must love God above all. That love will drive us to seek Him more & more!

"Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death." Psalms 48:12‭-‬14

Let God be the guide! We can walk about in confidence, divine direction & purpose when we let God lead the way. He doesn't lead us away from things to keep us from good, He leads us away from things because He has something better planned for us. Continue to seek His divine direction!