THE LORD SPOKE (April 14)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Judges 17-18

It seems he was in it for the money. That’s poor motivation for any job but it’s really poor motivation for serving God. Micah as an ordinary citizen, a member of the tribe of Ephraim - one of the largest, located right in the middle of Israel. His mother had a nice little nest egg which he dipped into and then felt guilty about. Confessing that to her brought about the weird situation we find in these two chapters.

The purpose for this story and the next here in the book of Judges seems to be to illustrate the phrase, repeated four times over, that “in those days Israel had no king” (Judg. 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). The attached phrase, “everyone did as he saw fit”, is repeated on the first and fourth instances (Judg. 21:25), forming bookends around these tragic tales and explaining the meddled mess we have here.

Micah’s mom wasn’t much of an example. Contrary to everything Israel had been taught since Mount Sinai, she said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol!” (Judg. 17:3). Hadn’t she ever heard what the Bible said about that? Didn’t she listen in Sunday School? Didn’t she ever memorize the verses: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself and idol...” (Ex. 20:3-4)? Apparently not. But it’s interesting that they should know how to “play church” so well. They put together some other god dolls (Judg. 17:5), they dressed up for the occasion (note the ephod in vs. 5). They really thought themselves lucky when a neighbor kid came by (the Levite from Bethlehem in vs. 7) who knew some of the cool words to say and had a backwards collar to wear.

Then a small gang of kids from another block (Judg. 18:2) came by and saw the cool setup. A short while later they came back and stole all the toys (Judg. 18:17) and persuaded the new kid to join them (Judg. 18:19-20). Micah and the first group squawked a little but nothing came of it and thus a new denomination was added to Israel’s already-messed-up religious scene.

And “all the time the house of God was in Shiloh” (Judg. 18:31). Sounds a lot like our day. There are lots of small groups popping up that are off into strange practices contrary to Scripture. Everyone likes to do his own thing - no more of this “institutionalized religion” thing in church anymore. We want more “meaningful worship”. And the crowd moves back and forth, easily swayed by the latest fads.

Meanwhile, a godly remnant stands firm, right where it’s always been; there when you need it. Let’s get real. Reject the fluff. Sink your teeth into something of substance. Find a God-honoring, Bible-believing, soul-searching church and latch onto it. Quit playing church and acting like there’s no King.


New Testament: Acts 15

How should you deal with conflict? Acts 15 is a good example of proper procedures:

1. Come together to discuss the issue (vs. 6).
2. Define the question clearly so everyone understands the issue (vs. 5)
3. Allow time and adequate opportunity for discussion (vs. 7).
4. Listen to multiple voices of experience (vs. 7,12,13).
5. Allow the moderator to restate the question and summarize the answers that the group has identified together (vs. 13-21).
6. Throughout the process, apply the Scriptures that have a bearing on the question (vs. 16-18; c.f. vs. 5,7,15,21).
7. Write it down! Keep an accurate written record so there’s no question as to what was decided (vs. 23-29).
8. Communicate the results of the decision, giving good opportunity for Q&A (vs. 27,32).

The concluding paragraph of the chapter is a different story, but it shows us a couple additional points to consider in conflict resolution:

9. Don’t expect all your problems to be forever over just because you solved the big one.
10. Sometimes you’ll just have to agree to disagree.
11. When that happens, both sides should remember that which is fundamentally important. In this case all involved continued to faithfully “preach the word of the Lord” (vs. 35,36,41).
12. Use division to bring about multiplication (vs. 39-40). Let all sides remain dedicated to the work of the Lord! There’s plenty of space in which to work.

P.S. This is the first place where the anonymous Dr. Luke appears in the book. Did you notice that “we preached the word of the Lord” in vs. 36? He’s going to have a growing part in what follows (see 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1 - 28:16).