Post by the Husband
Judges 18:7Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking nothing that is in the earth and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.
There are some pretty obscure references in the bible which highlight some aspects of human nature.
When I read about this group of people, I couldn’t help but think of my hometown. We also live in security, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking nothing and possessing wealth. It also feels like our attitude as a town is that we don’t really need to deal “with anyone” because we are pretty self-sufficient. Okay, so yes, there are things like trade, tourism but when it comes to the crunch, our general attitude is that we are pretty happy the way we are.
I think the word “unsuspecting” pretty much captures the attitude of the people there, and perhaps where I come from.
We are not expecting anything dangerous to come our way physically or economically. We feel more or less, I was going to say “untouchable”, but that would indicate a degree of knowledge that there are people that would be against us. I think perhaps unsuspecting also describes us.
What could possibly happen to us? Who would want to attack us? What could possibly go wrong?
And then there’s the isolation of this group.
They had “no dealings with anyone”! How is that even possible?
Surely they must have traded at least a little bit with other cities. Unless they truly were self-sufficient. Perhaps their land was really rich in resources so maybe they really didn’t need to trade. They didn’t need friends outside their little town as they had it all.
Yet the Israelites were about to wipe them out. When they attacked them, there was “no deliverer”.
Judges 18:27-28
“But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone.”
Hence this unsuspecting, prosperous, individualistic people were wiped out and there was no-one to save them.
It makes me think of how I like to live my life isolated from other people. I feel like I’ve got enough of everything I need. I don’t really want to have the hassle of having to develop mutually beneficial friendships. I also often feel like there’s no real enemy.
But there is.
I have an enemy, and he’s looking to destroy my life.
As Christians we can’t live unsuspecting lives. And we can’t be isolated. We need friends that can watch our backs. We need to be connected to other Christians and realise that there is an enemy that wants to destroy us. In fact, the prosperity that we enjoy can sometimes be part of the enemy’s scheme to lure us into a false sense of security.
Prayer: “Father, help me not to be lured into a relaxing so much that I forget that there is indeed a battle raging. Help me not be so satisfied with my earthly life that I don’t make time for eternal friendships.”