Hello girls, just asking for prayer from my sisters in Christ about a decision to move back home to be closer to family or stay in a teaching job I love and a place I am more firmly established. Wanting to hear from God. He’s kept me peaceful throughout this quandary so far. Wherever I am, he will be there and he’s been so faithful to lead throughout my life and has provided beautiful people and places. Thank you in advance.
I found this verse really encouraging: The priest said, “Go assured. GOD ’s looking out for you all the way.” (Judges 18:6 MSG) In a way, God spoke to me through it. I have some intimidating situations in the days to come, but I feel God is using this to call peace into my mind again. He’s looking out for each and every one of us, with His very best intentions. I pray that we all can find peace through the assurance that He is looking out for us in every situation.
My study Bible explains that idols were made for a god to inhabit, making it a place to meet with the one they worshiped . Though God prohibited this in the 10 commandments because He can not be contained on earth. So perhaps during this time of disobedience this was the closest they actually had to acknowledging God at all. Again, the influence of the surrounding religions…but this also set Dan up for the center of Baal worship later. Bad habits give way to sin, I guess. A good thing for us to take warning of what we think are just little bad habits?
Thanks for that thought Linda – it’s definitely something to ponder. From 1 Corinthians 10:
11-12 “These are all warning markers — danger! — in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel — they at the beginning, we at the end — and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence ”
… I need Gods grace to develop more “God confidence”.
Amen Debbie. As we grow up and have kids, they often take all the attention we once devoted to the guys we date- attention that duly belongs to God! He wants our whole hearts….not what’s left over after everyone else gets a piece.
Ladies I’m wondering if you could shed some light on Judges 18 and the story of Micah, the Levite priest, and the Danites. Generally I’m just confused about this. Micah made household gods? But the Danites still inquired of the Lord through the Levite priest? Dude I’m just confused…
Well ultimately the story shows how far the Israelites had come from following the Levitical law God put in place by mixing their worship/following of Yahweh with that of other gods. So Micah only returns this silver when his mother pronounces a curse on the thief who took it. The mother then “consecrates” the silver to the Lord by making an idol–totally backwards thinking. Then a Levite comes. First of all, he is not supposed to be wandering around the land, he is supposed to be serving a particular area of Israel. and you’d think that, as a priest, he would do his job and knock down the idol but instead he accepts money to stay and be a personal priest in a home practicing idolatry. This passage highlights how corrupt Israel had become when even the Levites, God’s priests, we’re doing things like this. When the Danites ask him for a sign from God that they will be successful the Levite never inquires of the Lord but just quickly answers sure, Yahweh approves your journey. Later, the Levite goes with the Danites and takes the idols with him! The way the city Laish is described emphasizes its innocence which means the Danites were acting against Deut. 20 where God tells the Israelites to only completely destroy certain cities. The phrase that’s repeated over and over in Judges (the theme) is “Everyone did as he saw fit” and this passage is simply another highlight of what it looks like when we follow our own way instead of God’s. Hope that helps!
Never mind…I found the answer in my bigger study Bible. This story in Judges takes place sometime around 1060 BC, and Micah was a prophet in 742 BC. ;-)
Awesome. Thank you so much Amy. Maybe it was because I was reading this at 5:30am but literally your explanation helped me unpack so much of this text. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and share. It meant a lot to me today.
I’m so glad it was helpful! Judges is SUCH a hard book to understand. Most of my response is just a paraphrase of my friend Cory’s commentary on Judges. He offers commentaries as well as classes on his website knowingthebible.net (Not an advertisement or anything because almost ALL of what he has there is completely free.) It has helped me immensely in understanding the themes of the Bible so thought I’d pass it along! Thankful I get to walk through the Bible with you ladies. Enjoy your day! :)
Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit lazy about doing thethings that I need to do in service to God, particularly, preparing our discussion topic for a Bible Study group that I lead… My flesh just seem to overpower me. Sisters, I humbly ask for your prayers… Today, I read this verse and I was reminded:
“And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him…” (14:19; 15:14)
Everytime this verse appears, Samson did amazing things afterwards!
LORD! Let Your Spirit rushed upon me! For I acknowledge that I cannot do anything apart from You! Give me the passion to serve You with delight! In Jesus Name! Amen.
I just finished praying for you and I want to encourage you. Preparing Bible Study can seem like a time consuming activity, but the reward of not only discussing the Word with others, but also getting into the Word itself is very rewarding. May God bless your Bible studies and may you find wonderful wisdom to share.
Hello girls, just asking for prayer from my sisters in Christ about a decision to move back home to be closer to family or stay in a teaching job I love and a place I am more firmly established. Wanting to hear from God. He’s kept me peaceful throughout this quandary so far. Wherever I am, he will be there and he’s been so faithful to lead throughout my life and has provided beautiful people and places. Thank you in advance.
Jules, I’ll be praying for clarity and peace in your decision! ❤️
Saying a prayer for you Jules!
I found this verse really encouraging: The priest said, “Go assured. GOD ’s looking out for you all the way.” (Judges 18:6 MSG) In a way, God spoke to me through it. I have some intimidating situations in the days to come, but I feel God is using this to call peace into my mind again. He’s looking out for each and every one of us, with His very best intentions. I pray that we all can find peace through the assurance that He is looking out for us in every situation.
If you want learn more about the book of Judges you might consider these Bible study podcasts by Jen Wilkin at http://jenwilkin.podbean.com
It’s also on the Podcast app under Jen Wilkin’s Women of Flower Mound show!
My study Bible explains that idols were made for a god to inhabit, making it a place to meet with the one they worshiped . Though God prohibited this in the 10 commandments because He can not be contained on earth. So perhaps during this time of disobedience this was the closest they actually had to acknowledging God at all. Again, the influence of the surrounding religions…but this also set Dan up for the center of Baal worship later. Bad habits give way to sin, I guess. A good thing for us to take warning of what we think are just little bad habits?
Thanks for that thought Linda – it’s definitely something to ponder. From 1 Corinthians 10:
11-12 “These are all warning markers — danger! — in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel — they at the beginning, we at the end — and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence ”
… I need Gods grace to develop more “God confidence”.
Samson loved a lot of women … ultimately distracting him from his purpose. What do we love to the point of distraction?
Thank you for posing this question. There are some things I just have to let God work out, even if it involves my child, whom I desperately love.
Amen Debbie. As we grow up and have kids, they often take all the attention we once devoted to the guys we date- attention that duly belongs to God! He wants our whole hearts….not what’s left over after everyone else gets a piece.
Ladies I’m wondering if you could shed some light on Judges 18 and the story of Micah, the Levite priest, and the Danites. Generally I’m just confused about this. Micah made household gods? But the Danites still inquired of the Lord through the Levite priest? Dude I’m just confused…
Well ultimately the story shows how far the Israelites had come from following the Levitical law God put in place by mixing their worship/following of Yahweh with that of other gods. So Micah only returns this silver when his mother pronounces a curse on the thief who took it. The mother then “consecrates” the silver to the Lord by making an idol–totally backwards thinking. Then a Levite comes. First of all, he is not supposed to be wandering around the land, he is supposed to be serving a particular area of Israel. and you’d think that, as a priest, he would do his job and knock down the idol but instead he accepts money to stay and be a personal priest in a home practicing idolatry. This passage highlights how corrupt Israel had become when even the Levites, God’s priests, we’re doing things like this. When the Danites ask him for a sign from God that they will be successful the Levite never inquires of the Lord but just quickly answers sure, Yahweh approves your journey. Later, the Levite goes with the Danites and takes the idols with him! The way the city Laish is described emphasizes its innocence which means the Danites were acting against Deut. 20 where God tells the Israelites to only completely destroy certain cities. The phrase that’s repeated over and over in Judges (the theme) is “Everyone did as he saw fit” and this passage is simply another highlight of what it looks like when we follow our own way instead of God’s. Hope that helps!
Thank you, Amy! I was also wondering just how that all worked. Does anyone know, is this the same Micah as the book of the prophet Micah?
Never mind…I found the answer in my bigger study Bible. This story in Judges takes place sometime around 1060 BC, and Micah was a prophet in 742 BC. ;-)
Awesome. Thank you so much Amy. Maybe it was because I was reading this at 5:30am but literally your explanation helped me unpack so much of this text. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and share. It meant a lot to me today.
I’m so glad it was helpful! Judges is SUCH a hard book to understand. Most of my response is just a paraphrase of my friend Cory’s commentary on Judges. He offers commentaries as well as classes on his website knowingthebible.net (Not an advertisement or anything because almost ALL of what he has there is completely free.) It has helped me immensely in understanding the themes of the Bible so thought I’d pass it along! Thankful I get to walk through the Bible with you ladies. Enjoy your day! :)
Yes thank you Amy for explaining that! I was pretty confused too.
the comment above was supposed to be for yesterday’s devotion.. i’m sorry.. :)
Dear Lord, may misce honor you by becoming an overcomer!
Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit lazy about doing thethings that I need to do in service to God, particularly, preparing our discussion topic for a Bible Study group that I lead… My flesh just seem to overpower me. Sisters, I humbly ask for your prayers… Today, I read this verse and I was reminded:
“And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him…” (14:19; 15:14)
Everytime this verse appears, Samson did amazing things afterwards!
LORD! Let Your Spirit rushed upon me! For I acknowledge that I cannot do anything apart from You! Give me the passion to serve You with delight! In Jesus Name! Amen.
I just finished praying for you and I want to encourage you. Preparing Bible Study can seem like a time consuming activity, but the reward of not only discussing the Word with others, but also getting into the Word itself is very rewarding. May God bless your Bible studies and may you find wonderful wisdom to share.