In reading through Judges, the statement in Judges 17:6 struck me: “In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.” (NET) In other words: because there was no central authority to enforce the Law, nobody followed God's decrees. I found this to be rather depressing, especially as it ties in with a passage where one man, Micah, is worshipping Yahweh in a syncretistic manner. One might argue: he had no access to the Law. This was not true, as Joshua very carefully recorded the Law of God at Shechem (see Jos. 24:25-26). He had access to it, only having to travel to Shiloh, as well as having a Levite who should have taught him about the way God wanted him to live. He had no excuse, yet persisted in his spiritual anarchy.

Thus came the question: Do I live according to the authority of the Word; or am I a spiritual anarchist who does what I consider right? I am evaluating this for myself at the moment, as I believe each of us should. We are called to follow God and obey His commands, because that is how we show love to Him (Jos. 22:5; Jn. 14:15,23-24; 1Jn. 5:3). To bring this into modern language: the most important thing in our lives is to be biblical in the way we live. Everything else is secondary. Not living according to the clear teachings of the Bible is a form of spiritual anarchy.