By Pastor Yomi OGUNTUWASE
(yomioguntuase@gmail.com, +447946506659)
This is an eye-opening lesson from the Zidonians as they were careless.
Judges 18:7-28 describes the Danite tribe’s conquest of Laish after sending scouts who found the city’s people living peacefully and unaware of danger
The people of Zidon, and later the settlers of Laish, lived in a way described as “quiet and secure,” yet ultimately careless, unthinking, and dangerously short-sighted. Their lives seemed peaceful and ideal.
There were no internal troubles, no need for magistrates, no conflict, and no pressure. Everyone minded their own business, and because they were gentle and peace-loving, they assumed everyone else in the world was just the same.
But beneath this outward calm lay a fatal flaw: they refused to think, prepare, or examine the true basis of their security.
They took no precautions, built no defences, and paid no attention to possible dangers. They never asked how long their peace would last.
They ignored strangers entering their land, including the five spies sent by the Danites. Their comfort made them blind, their peace made them careless, and their carelessness left them open to destruction.
A second and even more dangerous aspect of their lifestyle was their total isolation. These new colonists lived “far from the Zidonians” their own people and “had no business with any man.” They cut themselves off from everyone.
Their land was rich enough to supply all their needs, so they felt no need for trade, relationships, or alliances. Hidden in a quiet valley, off the beaten path, they lived in complete independence, convinced that this self-sufficient, private life was ideal.
And so, it appeared until danger came.
The Danite spies observed their unguarded lifestyle and reported back. Soon six hundred armed men marched into Laish and destroyed the colony “with extreme ease.” Why?
Because the people of Laish had no protection, no allies, no warning system, and most tragically” no deliverer, because they were far from Zidon and had no business with any man.”
Their isolation, which once felt like freedom, became the very cause of their destruction.
This entire story stands as a mirror to modern life. Many people live exactly as the Zidonians and Laish did content, comfortable, drifting from day-to-day, refusing to think seriously about life, danger, death, conscience, or eternity.
They silence uncomfortable thoughts, rely on present happiness, and assume that peace today guarantees peace tomorrow. They isolate themselves from God, from truth, and from anything that challenges their comfort. But this is not wisdom it is the absence of wisdom. A life lived without preparation or thought is a life built on sand.
When trouble finally arrives disappointment, sickness, pain, loss, guilt, or the final judgment where will such a person turn? Having cut themselves off from God, they have no Deliverer. Turning their back on Him does not remove eternal realities. Ignoring truth does not change truth. Isolation from God only leaves the soul defenceless.
The warnings the spies have already entered our lives.
But so has the Saviour.
The call is clear and urgent:
Turn to Him, listen to Him, follow Him.
He is the only true Deliverer, the only real security in life, and the only hope for eternity.
Many people live like the ancient Zidonian settlers quiet, secure, happy… and completely careless. Everything looks fine, so they never stop to think deeply about life, danger, purpose, or God. They avoid uncomfortable questions, silence anyone who warns them, and keep drifting through life on the assumption that “everything will be alright.”
But this kind of life is not wisdom.
It is the absence of wisdom.
The danger of a careless life
The Zidonians enjoyed peace, but they never asked why they were safe. Their security existed only because no one had attacked them yet. They refused to think about the future, ignored potential dangers, and pushed aside every warning.
So, when five enemy spies walked through their land, they noticed nothing.
And when a full army finally came, they had no defence, no plan, no help.
Their destruction wasn’t bad luck. It was the result of a life lived without thought, preparation, or truth.
The suicidal nature of isolation
Worst of all, the Zidonians had cut themselves off from their own people in Zidon. They had no communication, no relationships, no allies, no support.
When disaster struck, they cried out: “If only we were closer to Zidon!” But it was too late. They had burned the bridge that could have saved them.
Life will bring trouble pain, disappointment, loss, sickness, death, guilt, conscience, and ultimately… judgment.
The scripture says in Romans 12:2,
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
“The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably, thought and act.”
If you question anything enough, eventually you’ll begin to doubt it.
Most of us think change is about willpower.
But the truth is much simpler and far more powerful:
You will only change a behavior when you link massive, immediate pain to the old habit, and massive, immediate pleasure to the new one.
Every habit you have, good or bad exists because at some point, your brain learned, “This gets me out of pain.”
Stress, boredom, anger, loneliness… we all run to something. Food. Shopping. Shouting. Scrolling. Drinking. Sex. Drugs. Anything that gives us relief right now.
If we want real transformation, we have to retrain the brain with a better path out of pain.
And it starts with one thing:
Changing what you believe
Your beliefs determine what you try, what you tolerate, and what you think is possible.
But here’s the twist: beliefs aren’t fixed.
They can be questioned, weakened, reshaped even completely rebuilt.
When you challenge your old beliefs long enough, doubt creeps in. And doubt opens the door for something new.
Turn a belief into a conviction something backed by powerful emotion and meaningful action and your whole life shifts. Conviction is what pushes you to follow through, even when it’s hard. It’s what makes people lose weight, quit smoking, leave toxic relationships, build businesses, or turn their health around.
So here’s the formula for lasting change:
1️⃣ Question the old belief until it loses its power.
2️⃣ Build new references stories, experiences, knowledge that support the belief you want.
3️⃣ Create an emotionally intense moment that makes the new belief feel urgent and necessary.
4️⃣ Take immediate action so your brain starts wiring the new pattern in.
Change isn’t magic. It’s psychology. And once you understand it, you can transform anything: your habits, your relationships, your health, your future.
Belief has the power to create and also the power to destroy
Drugs are not always necessary but a belief in recovery always is. We need to realise that our beliefs have the power to make us well or to make us sick that’s why Jesus says just believe
*Oguntuase, a nutritionist and a reflexologist, is a Pastor of Christ in Me Ministry, Windsor UK.
