{"id":27756,"date":"2023-08-28T22:00:50","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-18_1-13-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-08-15T22:25:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T05:25:37","slug":"judges-18_14-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-18_14-31\/","title":{"rendered":"Always Be Alert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judges 18:14-31\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong>Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 18:14-31.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 18:14-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, other household gods, a carved image and a cast idol? Now you know what to do.”
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah’s place and greeted him.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance to the gate.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idol while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance to the gate.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When these men went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They answered him, “Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the priest was glad. He took the ephod, the other household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 14-20:\u00a0 Earlier when this priest needed a place to stay, Micah gave him a home and a job.\u00a0 Now, upon being offered more opportunity and prestige by the Danites, this priest quickly abandons Micah and even takes Micah\u2019s idols with him.\u00a0 Micah must have felt utterly betrayed and sucker punched by this priest\u2019s lack of loyalty and low EQ, as he did not even discuss the matter with Micah.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the lesson here?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 \u00a0 Before you decide to make a significant investment in someone as Micah did in this priest, make sure you get a good sense of that person\u2019s character.\u00a0 Otherwise, you may end up betrayed and sucker-punched the way Micah was by this priest.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 \u00a0 Be a loving and loyal team member at the place where you work.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t explore other opportunities elsewhere, but be careful in how you go about doing so, showing respect for your current boss\/team\/workplace that took you in.\u00a0 Beware dropping one job at the sight of a more lucrative one if it means you\u2019re going to pay for it by compromising your character or hurting your reputation.<\/p>\n

Judges 18:21-26 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Putting their little children, their livestock and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they had gone some distance from Micah’s house, the men who lived near Micah were called together and overtook the Danites.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He replied, “You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, ‘What’s the matter with you?'”
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Danites answered, “Don’t argue with us, or some hot-tempered men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.”
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the Danites went their way, and Micah, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 21-26:\u00a0 Both in their dealings with Micah (v14-26) as well as with the people of Laish right after (v27-31), it seems that, at least for the short-term, those Danites who believed that \u201cmight equals right\u201d had won.\u00a0 But God is just.\u00a0 In the long-term God will not allow bullies to prosper.\u00a0 God, who is much stronger than any bully, will one day hold every bully accountable for their actions.<\/p>\n

Judges 18:27-31 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They named it Dan after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel–though the city used to be called Laish.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0There the Danites set up for themselves the idols, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They continued to use the idols Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 27-31:\u00a0 Why were the people of Laish helpless against the Danites?\u00a0 It\u2019s because they were \u201ca peaceful and unsuspecting people\u201d (v27) and they \u201chad no relationship with anyone else\u201d (v28).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 \u00a0 While we want to be peaceful, we also want to be alert, shrewd and on guard against our enemy Satan, lest we be attacked unsuspectingly.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 \u00a0 The danger of having \u201cno relationship with anyone else\u201d (v28) is that when trouble comes you\u2019re on your own.\u00a0 God didn\u2019t make us to live that way.\u00a0 God made us to be connected in community with others so that you have a support network and people to call on in times of trouble.\u00a0 Satan loves to prey on those who aren\u2019t connected to others in meaningful ways.<\/p>\n

Father, please help me always to be alert and on guard against the enemy\u2019s tactics, and also shrewd and careful in my dealings with people, that I would not be an unsuspecting victim.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 18:14-31.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 18:14-20 (NIV)
\n14\u00a0\u00a0Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, other household gods, a carved image and a cast idol? Now you know what to do.”
\n15\u00a0\u00a0So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah’s place and greeted him.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance to the gate.<\/p>\n

On verses 14-20:\u00a0 Earlier when this priest needed a place to stay, Micah gave him a home and a job.\u00a0 Now, upon being offered more opportunity and prestige by the Danites, this priest quickly abandons Micah and even takes Micah\u2019s idols with him.\u00a0 Micah must have felt utterly betrayed and sucker punched by this priest\u2019s lack of loyalty and low EQ, as he did not even discuss the matter with Micah.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the lesson here?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 \u00a0 Before you decide to make a significant investment in someone as Micah did in this priest, make sure you get a good sense of that person\u2019s character.\u00a0 Otherwise, you may end up betrayed and sucker-punched the way Micah was by this priest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27756"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27759,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27756\/revisions\/27759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}