DAILY MANNA DEVOTIONAL BY PASTOR W.F.KUMUYI, THURSDAY 23rd MAY 2019.
TOPIC: BETWEEN GOD AND gods.
BIBLE TEXT: Judges 18:22-31
22. And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.23. And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?24. And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away; and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?25. And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.26. 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.27. 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.28. And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.29. And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel; howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.30. 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.31. And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
KEY VERSE: Judges 18:30
“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.”
DAILY MANNA DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE FOR TODAY
The Persians once exploited the Egyptians’ worship of cats by using them in an attack. Each held a cat, while hundreds of the animals ran ahead. The Egyptians surrendered for fear of harming the cats – an object of worship. In different part of the world, people have stooped to the worship of man, animals and images.
There is nothing wrong with the instinct in man that disposes him to worship. The tragedy of this, however, is that despite the inherent knowledge of God in man, he tends to ascribe the glory rightly belonging to God the Creator to mere creatures.
It is more disturbing when those who have tested the saving power of the Almighty God get entrapped in the mess of idolatry or sorcery. This was the case of Micah who made gods and the children of Dan who stole and worshipped those gods.
For whatever reasons they resorted to this medium, it was a grievous sin for which none could plead ignorance or expediency of circumstance. The worship of the true and only God was already entrenched in Israel.
It is remarkable to note that this ugly incidence took place at a time when “there was no king in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). Their eventual conquest of Laish must have strengthened their attachment to Micah’s gods. They took God’s goodness for granted and attributed it to gods and man’s ingenuity.
Similarly, there are many who make gods out of the mundane things of life. And to these gods, they give their devotion. We devotion should be reserved for the Lord, and we should be more endeared to Him than Micah was to his gods.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: It is mockery to feign God or to make gods.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Samuel 6.7
DAILY MANNA devotional shared via www.thedevotionals.com
