Missing Gods

Judges 18: 24: "Ye have taken away my gods ... and what have I more?"

Revolutionists fail to appreciate the fact that rapid and radical change inflicts pain,
and may cause tragedy to many, many people.
The people who are loudest in their praise of complete reversal of conditions in any area
of human activity commonly ignore the necessity of replacing the old and inadequate
with that which is not only new, but superior.

In the Book of Judges there is a story of a man to whom violent change brought tragedy.
His most precious possession, a primitive and false god, was taken from him.
He also had the name of a famous Old Testament prophet, but this Micah was not a prophet.
His most passionate passion in life was the his collection of idols.
He would do anything to acquire a god.

Superstition was prominent in his religious belief.
When he restored some money that he had stolen from his mother, she devoted part
of the money to the construction of a new idol for her son.
He installed this new idol in his private chapel, and employed a product chaplain to maintain his religion.

But Micah lived, as we do, in a time of transition and changes.
Danite raiders came to his village, and discovered his treasures, and took both his household gods
and his private chaplain.

Micah rounded up a posse to pursue them.
And, as he approached the Danites his cries of grief and rage prompted the raiders to stop and ask:
"What ails you, that you are up in arms?"

Micah's despairing cry has a certain pay pathos in it:
"You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priests,
and ye are gone away and what have I more?"
" And then, you ask what ails me?"

Micah was deprived of the symbol of his faith and the object of his devotion.
The Danites didn't suggest a substitute, but went ahead and set up their own camp
and placed in it the things they had treated as of no consequence.
The superficial minds that are so fond of change fail to see that change of itself
does not mean progress for anyone.
This man was left with an empty sanctuary, and an even more empty inside.

Change and progress can be fruitless not simply to those who fight change,
but also to those who are not aware of transitions and changes.
Also, there is another side to the matter.
One fact that reactionaries fail to grasp is that change is inevitable.
And if change it is to be accomplished wisely, it should be accepted and guided
not only to worthy ends, but also by worthy means.

Change is inevitable for we do not live in a static world.
We live in a dynamic world.
As we grow older, we sing wistfully, "Change and decay in all around I see, "
and it has its sad and regrettable accompaniments.
But if we had the power to prevent all change, it would take take long to see the folly of using it.

We would not care to live in a world in which improvement and reformation were impossible.
Nor would we go back to the "good old days" of comparatively stable personal and social existence,
as much as we wish we could recover their serenity and simplicity.

Great revivals usually produce great change, and usually destroyed vicious practices such as:
wide-spread drunkenness and immorality, human slavery, and a lifeless and formal religion.
Household gods are toppled from their pedestals and the living God redemptively enters into the hearts
and homes of multitudes.

We may not want to be roused from our apathy, but when we are so roused and use the changes wisely,
great and glorious blessings and victories happen to the Church of God.
We may resist change and miss the glorious journey into a larger faith and vision and life,
or we may embrace every proposed change like a chameleon until,
like the famous chameleon who was placed upon a plaid quilt, we go to pieces
in our frantic endeavour to adjust to every change of color regardless of its worth.

There are some wonderful ways that we can deal with change.
We can have the Christian method of dealing with change.
There is one thing more dangerous than change, and that is changelessness.
To go out into a new world community with provincial attitudes and an outworn philosophy,
or with no spiritual faith at all, would be deadly.

O Micah, they have taken away your old gods and you feel that nothing is left,
but they have not taken away the real values of your home and life.
No band of raiders can violate that inner sanctuary where a person's true God really lives.
If we could only see that, we might make a contribution to the ethical and spiritual progress
of the world in which we live.

During a time of disturbing transitions and changes, life is shaken so that the true meaning
and power of life may be revealed.
Micah could not see how a man could be saved or remain secure when his familiar gods
had been taken away from him.
He needed to see that no person is ever saved unless he is saved within.

You may have hated leaving the old home-place when you left the nest.
Thereafter, you may have suffered from homesickness for the well-known ways,
and for the people and places.
Now you know that being pushed out by necessity or by some compelling voice,
even as eaglets are pushed out of the nest by the mother bird, was the best thing
that ever happened to you.

You tried your wings, you learned to fly.
No longer do you say: "Ye have taken away my gods and what have I more?"

Your childhood faith may have been rudely shattered, but if you have now come
to a growing conception of God, and a conviction that in Christ is all we know,
and all we need to to know -- you have learned how to fly.
That knowledge will bring forth in you a steadfast and courageous discipleship.
And you will be grateful that the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune took away your former gods.

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews uses the time of change and transition magnificently.
"These wild winds," he says, " catching away your breath and whirling wreckage everywhere
are God's winds, shaking down what has grown old and obsolete and withering,
so that what is green and fresh and vigorous and living may have room to breathe
and grow and blossom and buy a rich harvest."
(A. J. Gossip)

Haven't you found in your personal experience that the shaking of your life
by some apparently catastrophic experience has revealed abiding values?

Here is a man having some great trial who says after the storm has subsided,
"I never knew who my friends were, or what friendship meant,
until this happened to me."

Here is a lady who could say, "I never knew before what strength God gives,
until every human prop seemed to be taken away."

To be sure, change does need to be welcome, and it requires the guidance of a
steady, farseeing, God directed leadership.
One of the dangerous assumptions of our generation is that the end justifies the means.
The trust-worthy prophets are doing well to remind us that the means themselves determines the ends.

No generation has had more worthy goals in view than ours -- world peace, economic security,
social justice and many others.
Disagreement and doubt occur when the means to the attainment of these ends are discussed.
No Christian should ever subscribe to the basic heresy that a Christ-like goal can be attained
by unchristian means.

In all the matters of our lives and of our personal character, the means do determine the end.
We must see our destination and take the route best calculated to bring us
to the goal and victory that God has for us.

Amidst change and decay, He does still abide, and we must follow our Lord
through the disturbing changes and transitions of our lives.
We must have a fixed point of reference which will reveal the means of reaching a Christlike goal.

The saints and the wise and the steadfast unite in testimony that the only way to deal with
the changes is to get our eyes and heart fixed on the unchanging God.
God is eternal, unchanging and loving.
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He will be the same to you as when you trusted Him in the past.

Has some treasure been taken from you?
Some symbol of security?
Hear Him, troubled soul, believe and rejoice!
The changes the years bring are not designed to leave us poorer, but to enrich us.

"Ye have taken away my gods, which I have made, and what have I left?"
We have God, eternal and unchanging in His love and mercy.
We have Christ who never lets us go, and who is with us through everything to the very end.

"O Thou who changes not, abide with us in all changes.
May we greet the unseen with a cheer,
Or at least with quiet confidence
That thou art bringing order out of chaos.

Help us to go forward fearlessly,
Knowing that the things which are shaken
Reveal the eternal and unmovable."

Jesus Is My All

"Why should I fear the darkest hour
Or tremble at the temptr's pow'r?
Jesus guarantees to be my tower.

When creature comforts fade and die,
Worldlings may weep; but why should I?
Jesus still lives, and still is nigh.

Though all the flocks and herds were dead,
My soul a famine need not dread,
For Jesus is my living bread.

Against me earth and hell combine;
But all my side is pow'r divine;
Jesus is all, and He is mine."

Sermon adapted by Dr. Harold L. White