Sounds weird for a post title? What in Heaven’s name is CS all about here? Don’t worry. It’ll be clear in a few lines.
So here I was studying my Bible on a recent bank holiday Monday (Not living in the UK? Bank holiday ≡ public holiday, I’ve never really found out why it is called a bank holiday. Fair enough, banks close on such day but I digress . . .), and read the book of Judges that lists the exploits of the people that judged Israel after Joshua and before Samuel. Some had interesting resumes like ‘he had 30 sons that rode on 30 asses‘! Whaattt! Daz all?! *smh* May your life’s resume not read like that! Say AMEN!
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Just after Samson’s story in Judges chapter 18, I found the story of the Danites who were yet to possess their land, so they send 5 of their men to explore a country they thought they could easily take over. The name of that country was Laish. Reading on, I saw that the Danites eventually took over that land and settled there, renaming it to Dan, the name of their ancestor – a son of Israel p.k.a.¹ Jacob. I was ready to move on to read other Scriptures for the day but I felt to stay on there for a while and while waiting for what I was supposed to learn and glean from that passage, these thoughts came to my heart. I hope it blesses you. Here we go:
1. Avoid isolation
Verses 7, 27-28 of the chapter 18 give the reason why the Danites successfully evicted the Laish-ites (I don’t know if that’s correct, either) – they were isolated. Their defence, their deliverers were the Zidonians but those ones were far away from there and so they could not have come to their rescue especially as the Danites did not announce their attack or encamp around them to ask them to surrender or set their battle in array. They literally came like ‘a thief in the night’ and dealt with them properly!
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Lesson: NEVER BE ISOLATED FROM YOUR DELIVERER. You and I must do all we can to stay under the shadow of HIS wings [Psalms 91:1] by remaining in the fear of GOD so that HIS angels are always encamping round about us [Psalm 34:11]. Remember, the LORD is your shield, deliverer, strong tower, refuge and strength [Psalms 18, 91]. The devil is not playing [John 10:10] neither should you be playing with your PRIMARY SOURCE of deliverance.
2. Have allies
Another reason the Laish-ites were toast was because they “had no allies nearby” vs 7, 28 (NLT). To be honest, these people were not serious at all! No allies nearby?! I’m sure there were no fighter jets in that time that could be readily scrambled/deployed in no time to their aid so I wonder what they were thinking. Maybe they had some psychic plans, LORD knows cos I don’t! Again, no help nearby. No one could quickly escape on a donkey/horse/camel’s back to call in the calvary – there was none to rescue.
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Lesson: ALWAYS HAVE ALLIES NEARBY. You and I need people we can easily call on or run to who can quickly gear up and come to our rescue, either physically or in prayers or in words of encouragement. Not having such support system just makes the battles that come, cos they will come, much harder to deal with. Even Jesus had disciples around him, at least one stayed till the cross [John 19:25-27]. You and I are not called to do this life alone; you need good people, GOD people to bear your burdens [Galatians 6:2] when you can’t. You need your Simon of Cyrene [Mark 15:21] to bear that cross in those rough, tough but temporary seasons of life.
3. Build your defence
Again, the Laish-ites dwelt quiet and secure and peaceful, which in itself is not a bad thing. There will be times of quiet and peace and comfort but . . .
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Lesson: . . . KEEP BUILDING YOUR DEFENCE SYSTEMS IN TIMES OF PEACE. Don’t wait till trouble comes before you start doing your Bible study and looking for GOD’s Words that should have been stored up in your heart during the quiet times. Remember Joseph made the Egyptians store food in the 7 years of plenty not in the first couple of years of the famine to start scrambling for leftovers [Genesis 41]. Think about the parable of the wise servant Jesus told of who was going to lose his job [Luke 16:1-12]. Read your Word, pray those prayers, strengthen your faith before the battles. The Word needs to be in your heart so that the Holy Spirit can bring them to your remembrance [John 14:26]. HE can still be merciful to tell you in other ways but when there is crisis, we generally don’t listen well.
Anyway, I hope you learned a thing or two from these trio. If you don’t want to lose your identity and inheritance, do these three and by GOD’s help, you’ll be able to stand firm and keep moving forward.
To your strength and defense, . . . .
¹pka = previously known as (I just made it up!)
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