Right In Our Own Eyes…..

I’m not a formerly educated theologian. I’ve never even taken a class on the Bible. I’m a self-taught, God-inspired, Truth-seeking, Jesus follower. So when I read Judges chapter 17, I can’t help but scratch my head. Why is this even in the Bible? What’s the point? Am I missing something? I just don’t get why it’s here; why God put it there. Then I step back, and reread verse 6. One possible answer to my dilemma is exactly what it says, “...all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” Micah did what he thought was right in his own eyes. His mother cursed him, for stealing her money, so he confessed to her. She made him an idol from some of the stolen-then-returned-money. He worshipped the idol. He even hired a Levite to be a priest for him. This just goes to show us that without God in our lives, we will still worship. We worship because it’s built into our DNA. If it’s not God, it will be something else. We want to justify our actions, so we try to convolute God’s way with our way. We try to make ourselves “feel” better by creating a pseudo-similar practice. We want to get the approval of others in order to “feel” legitimized. We do what seems right in our own eyes. The problem with this is we don’t know what is right without God. He sets the standard. When we try to step into God’s role, by determining what is right, we fail miserably. And the saddest part is we drag others down with us in our own misery in the process. Just think how society continues to do this, all the agendas out there that go against God’s way. Trying to legitimize behaviors that go against biology, against science, against morality, and even against common sense, will never make the person “feel” legitimized. Yet people still try. If they get a law passed in support of their views, it still doesn’t bring them the significance or justification they are wanting. Why? Because it goes against the created order that God has established. Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. And right will always be right even if no one is doing it. Truth has a way of proving itself over time. The only problem with this is it takes time for people to accept it (some never will), and in that time severe damage is done. Save yourself and others some pain, seek out God today. His way is the best way. You’ll find this to be true, even if you do whatever seems right in your own eyes.

6 In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. Judges 17:6