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I’m a sucker for rushing to the aid of somebody who is being abused by bullying.
It’s sort of a Golden Rule thing, you know.
This nature of mine was brought to remembrance this morning while reading from the One-Year Bible.
Today’s reading from Judges 18 describes how the tribe of Dan was not satisfied with the Promised Land allotment given them by God — the northern coastland of the Mediterranean and foothills to the west.
Joshua 19:47 makes clear that the Danites couldn’t conquer the Canaanite thugs who lived in that area and, later, the Danites chose to murder an entire city in order to steal somebody else’s territory.
The citizens of that targeted city, Laish, might have avoided this disaster, though, if they had only recognized their vulnerability and their need for friendship with someone stronger.
You see, Laish was a prosperous city with friendly people who were naive as to the danger they faced.
Because they had plenty of food and money and because they presumed that everybody was nice, they formed no mutual-defense relationships with other cities. They could have had a mutual defense treaty with Sidon, a powerful city, but the Laishites believed they didn’t need anybody’s help because they wouldn’t face any threats.
“Look at what we’ve done for ourselves. We don’t need anybody’s help,” appeared to be their motto.
Judges 18:27-28 show how wrong they were.
“They (Danites) attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else.”
This, of course, is a tragic story of cascading sin.
The Danites earlier didn’t trust God to help them conquer the Canaanite thugs in the land God had promised them.
Burdened with a failure of faith and a failure to provide for dependents, the Danite men eventually moved from being the victim of thugs over to becoming the thugs themselves.
When the thugs came upon people with plenty of money and no faith or friendships, it was mugging time.
People died, darkness reigned and countless souls were lost.
That’s what happens when people think they don’t need God and don’t need relationships with others.
Perhaps you know a Danite or two — somebody who didn’t get what they wanted in the past and who now resorts to bullying to take something from another, be it a job or popularity at church or a parent’s approval or even somebody’s wealth.
And perhaps you know a Laishite who is living on Easy Street and is convinced that he or she doesn’t need anybody’s help to handle his or her problems.
The above is a formula for disaster. You’ve probably seen such during your life. Perhaps you’ve even been the Danite or the Laishite.
Please, my friend, encourage others — especially the “I can do it myself” types — to build friendships during the good times in their lives. For they never know when a bully will come along with plans to steal their stuff or their place or their family.
That bully might even be a health malady that slams somebody who thought their health was great.
We need friends we can count on.
Especially the greatest Friend of all — Jesus.
Don’t let it be said of you that “There was no one to rescue them because they … had no relationship with anyone else.”
As always, I love you
Martin
