Judges 17:2 And his mother said, “Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son.”
Read Judges 17:1-13.
False religion lives easily with human frailties, faults, and sins. In Judges 17 we read that a man named Micah had stolen 1,100 shekels of silver from his own mother. When he heard her cursing the person who took it, he said, “Sorry about that, Mother dear,” and brought back the silver because he didn’t want to be included in his mother’s curse.
Second, false religion lives easily with parental permissiveness. His mother said, “Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son.” Is this a normal response of a mother who wants her son to be an upright person, a man of integrity? Micah was obviously beyond the age when he could have profited from a spanking, but he received no rebuke whatsoever. Indeed, his mother was indulgent, even accepting, when he returned the money.
Third, false religion lives easily with dishonesty. Though the mother knew the money had been stolen, she started to make excuses. “I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee… And his mother took 200 shekels and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image” (17:3-4). Whatever happened to the other 900 shekels?
Beware of actions and attitudes that reveal something less than real godliness, such things as dishonesty, moral permissiveness, and the breakdown of personal integrity. Only a real meeting with God can cure the heart overcome by false religion.
This devotional was written by Dr. Robert A. Cook. You can subscribe to his free email articles and listen to his Spirit-filled 15-minute messages at www.walkwiththeking.org. Used with written permission.
