And Now, Laish
My land lacks nothing whatever.
I consider this, here in my basement office. Light is sparse, but the desk lamp casts glow enough to see the pages before me. A small heater warms slippered feet while fingers relax at the keyboard’s warmth. With a mound of whip and foam melting into espresso I dig into soft oatmeal and wonder how long I can linger in this place of no lack.
The quiet covers me here. No rushing, no chasing what I cannot control.
I let my mind off its leash a while and see myself emerge from the cave weeks later with wild hair, clothes hanging and skin, pale to start, now absent even a hint of color.
And smiling.
A crazy, wide-mouth grin with sunken eyes sparkling.
I always imagine delight at abiding here in this, my land of prosperity, of safety and security, of no lack.
This deep place of isolation chosen, this is my Laish.
::
When the Danites pretended to ask for the Lord’s approval to continue to live without Him, their make-believe priest splatted his discount store rubber stamp on their plans and told them to get after it. God would bless hard.
Reinforced with conjured authority, they journeyed on in search of a place to call home. They had dorked around long enough in the promised land without securing themselves an inheritance. It was high time they settled in.
They eyed prime real estate in Laish and sent off a contingent of spies to scout the land.
Laish, they discovered, was a land waiting to be taken.
Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.”
The priest answered them, “Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD’s approval.”
So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, unsuspecting and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous.
Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.
When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “How did you find things?”
They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them! We have seen that the land is very good. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t hesitate to go there and take it over. When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.” (Judges 18:5-10)
::
A self-contained community, Laish produced all her people needed. She lacked nothing, finding herself secure in her own wealth. The city enjoyed an alliance in name only with the far away Sidonians, but “no relationship with anyone else.”
This was Laish. Safe, secure, prosperous and unsuspecting. Having everything and fearing nothing, she made the perfect mark for advancing fighters in search of a target.
The Danites attacked and burned Laish to the ground.
Laish never saw it coming. If she had, it hardly would have mattered.
She had no one to call for help.
Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They 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. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. (Judges 18:27-28)
::
I can explain it away with Myers-Briggs or tell you I have more blood flow in the frontal lobe. And there’s room for that; we’re all put together just a little differently. But I will tend to stretch it beyond reasonable distinctions in dimensions of personality and choose isolation over outside stimulation any day of the week. I can often find enough richness in my own mental process that I forget to seek outside of it.
It is at those times, safe and secure in remote self-sufficiency, that I leave myself most outside a fortified place. I might argue solitude is essential to know God and grow in intimacy with Him.
And I’d be right.
But we were made for both. For solitude and for community.
We’ll always find one of them easier I suppose, depending on which part of our brain was made for more blood flow and what kind of stimuli we find most, well, stimulating. It seems that leaning too far to the easier side might just put us in a dangerous place, outside the protection that comes from a little more of the other.
Laish found great success all on her own. She knew no one, trusted no one, and felt completely secure. Her one friend wasn’t even close enough to be real.
A good thing to remember when I lean too far to my side.
::
Very, very interesting stuff here. I crave the solitude until I’ve had too much, and then I crave the community–seems I’m not very good at finding a balance.
2010/02/06 at 10:29 PM
oooh. ouch. I often tell my husband that the whole world could dissolve into nuclear warfare so long as I had what I wanted in my own bunker and nobody bothered me. It’s a personality thing, sure, but wow. Thought I was the only one. Thank you for something to think about.
2010/02/07 at 4:29 PM
Jennifer, sounds like you maybe have more of the balance than some of us do. I don’t know what craving the community feels like. I will do it, but not crave it. Sometimes I wonder why.
Kelly, clearly, not the only one. Not by a long shot.
2010/02/07 at 6:08 PM
Lyla:
You referred to Myers-Briggs. My marketing class leader pigeon-holed everyone into one of four groups; controllers, achievers, friendshippers and researchers.
Controllers rely on themselves and as our leader pointed out, only need to win or be right 51% of the time. They are the golfers and tennis players of the world. Achievers are goal oriented and need the rush of beating the sales goal, etc. Researchers are kept busy just keeping their pencils lined up properly on their desk. Of the four groups, only the friendshippers are going to seek community because that is where they are most comfortable.
So you are not alone. 75% of those around you are pretty much in the same boat. The problem is that God doesn’t use Myers-Briggs. We are not so much unbalanced but just out of balance. We have to make the effort and God in his wisdom knows that we will do it because it pleases Him.
Dad
2010/02/07 at 7:22 PM
I think you’re right, Dad. Though I’ll admit, the MBI consistently slots me in a 1% -of-the-population category.
So maybe I’m more alone than we think…
2010/02/08 at 9:10 AM