Superstitious Faith

“Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.” (Jud 17:13 AV)

Ignoring the larger issue of disobedience and reducing the blessings of God to a simple object is treating God as one would a superstition.  Micah was guilty of idol worship.  He had stolen money from his mother to create a graven image.  When his mother caught him, he returned the money.  She, in turn, did that which he desired and hired out to a metal worker who created a graven image for Micah.  He then hired a man of Dan to be his priest.  Sensing a lack of blessings from the LORD, a Levite happened along and Micah hired him to be his personal priest.  Micah erroneously believed that merely because he had a Levite as his personal priest, God would bless him in spite of the idol which he worshiped.  Not only was Micah misguided, but the priest was also deceived.  A priest was not be a personal employee of an individual.  He was to be a priest to the community to which the LORD would send.  The failure here was that God’s people saw the ceremonial law as merely trinkets and potions.  An incantation to summon the blessings of God apart and separate from complete obedience to the all of the law of God.

The tribe of Dan isn’t the only one with this bad habit.  I remember a day when the thought that service to the LORD cancelled out obvious disobedience.  There was a thought that as long as one was a faithful soul-winner and had the right outward appearance, it really didn’t matter how holy one was on the inside.  This led to gross sin in the camp of God’s people.  Then there was the thought that holiness is a mere conformity to an outward standard.  Like the Pharisees, they tithed down to the smallest grain of spice, but ignored the weightier matters of the law like forgiveness, mercy, and compassion.  An old pastor of mine helped me to see this principle and used a different word for it.  Compartmentalism.  When we compartmentalize our lives and believe that conforming to one area means we are ok in all areas, we fail to see the consequences of the failures we are ignoring.  We do so to avoid having to deal with the areas of life which we would rather not.

Micah believed God would bless him because the appearance was obedience in one area while gross negligence reigned in another.  Just because we have the right Bible doesn’t mean God will bless in spite of other faults.  Just because we have the right music does not mean that God ignores the time we spend on our phones.  Just because we dress godly does not mean God does not consider our lack of concern for the lost.  In short, God’s blessings are a total sum game.  Complete, and not partial obedience is the condition of God’s blessings.