Micah’s Idolatry
17 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse [a]in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord.” 3 He then returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will return [b]them to you.” 4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made [c]them into a graven image and a molten image, and [d]they were in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a [e]shrine and he made an ephod and [f]household idols and [g]consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was [h]staying there. 8 Then the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to [i]stay wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to [j]stay wherever I may find a place.” 10 Micah then said to him, “Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 So Micah [k]consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and [l]lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest.”
This story is a sad example of what happens when we don’t train our children properly. Without guidance they will be like the Israelites where everyone “did what was right in his own eyes.”
There is no substitute for parents being involved in the lives of their children. Without involved parents, children grow up to be… truthfully, the odds are they won’t actually “grow up” but will just become adult children like Micah. Micah, the “man” who stole from his own mother, and not just a few bucks, but her whole life savings.
Parents, it’s time to actually parent. Stop being lazy, and take on the responsibility that God entrusted to you. Is it hard? Yes. Scary? Absolutely. Does any of us really know what we’re doing? Sometimes. But God setup the family in the first place, and with His help, you’ll make it through. With his help, you’ll do more than that, you’ll have a lasting impact on the next generation. And that is worth more than a life savings that you may or may not pass on to your children.