The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 13 June 2020 – TOPIC: A TIMELY CONCERN
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DATE: SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2020
TOPIC: A TIMELY CONCERN
READ: JUDGES 17:1-13 (NKJV)
1. Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name [was] Micah.
2. And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred [shekels] of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears — here [is] the silver with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “[May you be] blessed by the LORD, my son!”
3. So when he had returned the eleven hundred [shekels] of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the LORD for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.”
4. Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred [shekels] of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.
5. The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated 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.
7. Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he [was] a Levite, and was staying there.
8. The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find [a place.] Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.
9. And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” So he said to him, “I [am] a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find [a place] to stay.”
10. Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten [shekels] of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in.
11. Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him.
12. So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah.
13. Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!”
THE MESSAGE:
Our text speaks of a man who stole 1,100 shekels of silver from his mother, and she pronounced a curse on him, not knowing that she was cursing her own son. Possibly, the fear of the curse, not the fear of the Lord, motivated the son to confess his crime and restore the money. Then his mother joyfully neutralised the curse by blessing him. In gratitude for the return of her money, she dedicated part of the silver to the Lord and made an idol out of it. Her son added another dimension to the new idol by hiring a priest whom Micah installed and paid as a family priest.
Family idol and hireling ministry were major challengesfor Israel in those days. Today, for some families, their idol is money, fame, worldliness, etc. Whatever it is, we need to urgently take it away. Again, ‘hireling ministry’ – ministering for money and survival reasons also destroy the effectiveness of such ministry. The two issues are matters of timely concern for the Church to address immediately
PRAYER: Lord, deliver me from idols and every wrong motive in serving You!
