The slide into depravity is the worst when the people of God find themselves walking both “with God” and with the world in compromise.  In some ways it is worse to walk both worlds than to be all out in rejection of God.  At least his name isn’t defiled.

There was a man named Micah who stole from his mother.  Then he returned the money to her and in exchange, she made a carved image, an idol and gave it to him.  Then a Levite, a priest of God came through, a young man, and Micah asked him to be his personal priest.

So Micah worshiped the gods because they allowed licentiousness.  And he had his priest to kind of wash it over so he would still be good with God because he went the extra measure and had his own personal priest.

“Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest” (Judges 17:13).

This is the life of wanting to serve God and be right with Him, yet sin and it not be a big deal.  And it’s usually always sexual sin.

My one thought is that like Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun.  We want God, we want the security of salvation, we want peace, love, hope and joy, and we want sin.  Whatever it is that our sin may be.  It just becomes no big deal.  We don’t even call it sin anymore.

This story in Judges is not a prescription of how to live, but a picture of how bad things were getting.  When the people of God walk both sides of the fence and really don’t have conviction about it, it means they were in dangerous times.

People, we are in dangerous times.