The Watchman

There was a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. One day he said to his mother, "I heard you place a curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from you, Well, I have the money. I was the one who took it."
"The Lord bless you for admitting it," his mother replied. He returned the money to her, and she said, "I now dedicate these silver coins to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an image carved and an idol cast."
So when he returned the money to his mother, she took 200 silver coins and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into an image and an idol. And these were placed in Micah's house. Micah set up a shrine for the idol, and he made a sacred ephod and some household idols. Then he installed one of his sons as his personal priest.
In those days Israel had no king, all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
One day a young Levite, who had been living in Bethlehem in Judah, arrived in that area. He had left Bethlehem in search of another place to live, and as he traveled, he came to the hill country of Ephraim. He happened to stop at Micah's house as he was traveling through.
"Where are you from?" Micah asked him.
He replied, " I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am looking for a place to live."
"Stay here with me," Micah said, "and you can be a father and priest to me. I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, plus a change of clothes and your food." The Levite agreed to this, and the young man became like one of Micah's sons. So Micah installed the Levite as his personal priest, and he lived in Micah's house. "I know the Lord will bless me now," Micah said, "because I have a Levite serving as my priest." Judges 17: 5-13

We look at this guy, Micah, and think that this guy is just totally nuts. Stolen money, idols, priests... and he expected to be blessed by God because of this? It just went to show how off base this guy was. The problem is, relatively, he wasn't that crazy. Look around you. How many people do you know that "do whatever seemed right in their own eyes?" There is probably a lot of them, probably more than the Christians you know.

Friends, it's part of our job that we warn these people of the road that they are taking. They might not be so blatantly foolish as Micah was, but the end result will be the same. There are people that are heading to hell, and we can show the right way to them before that happens, but only if we act. If we sit back and do nothing when we could have done something, their blood will be on our hands.

"But if the watchmen sees the enemy coming and doesn't sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths." Ezekiel 33:6

Guys, we have been put where we are for a reason. There are people that only we can reach. Don't let people fall when we could have saved them. Don't let them go down these paths, blind to what's waiting for them. Be the watchman that God called you to be.

Sam