Judges 18:1-16
The self-will and idolatrous spirit shown in Micah’s household contaminated a whole tribe, as our chapter today relates. This is always the case. Before evil spreads and upsets God’s people, it starts by taking root in families.
V.1 tells us that in those days the Danites had still not received their inheritance. So instead of consulting the LORD and waiting upon Him, they decide, in their impatience, to try to obtain it by themselves. What a spirit of independence and what an easy way out! We must remember that the children of Dan allowed themselves to be pushed back into the mountain (Judges 1:34). Instead of taking possession of what was theirs and which was within their reach, but which required the energy of faith, they undertake an expedition to the other end of the country. Perhaps we act like them more often than we realise. The Lord has prepared a particular service for us in our immediate surroundings, but we shrink away from the test of faith and from the struggles which this service would involve. We would rather go in for more spectacular action in a direction which we have chosen ourselves.