Choose Whom You Will Serve

Judges 17:13

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!”

The book of Judges describes the Hebrew people in the years after they reached the promised land but they were not ruled by a king. Each tribe of the nation lived in their own region and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. God continued to appoint judges who were to settle disputes and organize for the defense against neighboring tribal groups. These leaders were also responsible for keeping a focus on the Lord and His standards for living as a free people. But many of them failed and there came a time of lawlessness.

In the midst of this a man named Micah paid a silversmith to make a small molten idol and he built a shrine to a false god. Then he saw a young man walking by from the lineage of Levi, the family of priests in the Hebrew nation, so Micah offered him an annual salary and a suit of clothes if he would perform the duties of priest to the Lord for his little shrine. In doing this, he felt he covered all of his spiritual bases. Micah had a little bit of the world's system and a little bit of God and was hoping that good things would come to him since he was appeasing all of the deities he could. He was convinced that if he just kept all of the legalistic formalities, then God would bless him.

This was a common practice among pagan people who basically wanted prosperity and thought that they should keep all the gods happy. Nevermind that this was in direct rebellion to the Lord who said that they should have no other gods before Him and that they should not make a graven image to worship. Years before, their leader Joshua had declared "Choose this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." The whole of the Bible echoes that challenge.

You can dabble with the world and dabble with God but ultimately, He requires that you make a choice. Sure, the world can provide temporary pleasure, Satan will see fit that you get plenty. But in the end all it can offer is fear and depression and pain and sorrow and loneliness and suffering while you struggle to survive. If there is an afterlife, the philosophers say, then man-made religions can come up with humanistic philosophies that will try and make you feel better like putting a little sugar in your bitter coffee to make it go down easier.

But this is exactly the opposite of what the God who created the universe has declared. He promises His power and favor that will give you purpose and meaning if you will forsake all other gods, all of the idols in your life, and choose Him. Give up your dabbling with the world on one hand and God on the other like Micah was doing. Commit your life completely to Him today. Get involved in a good small group Bible study whose goal is to help you grow as a follower of Jesus.