Pursue and rescue them

Who says plunder is unlawful?

The term plunder may have a negative undertone especially here in the Philippines after the infamous President Joseph Estrada was ousted from his office in 2001 during a people power uprising for charges of it (perjury, included).

But in the Bible, specifically in 1 Samuel 30, plunder was the means to take back what was rightfully possessed by David thereby putting it in a good light.

David and his men recovered everything that the Amalekites, considered as the terrorist in their times, had taken. The Amalekites have taken captive of the women and children and all who were in Ziklag, where David was sent to by Achish after the commanders of the Philistines refused for David and his men to fight with them against the army of his former boss, King Saul. The wives of David – Ahinoam and the beautiful and intelligent Abigail were captured too.

David could have reacted right away given the harsh situation where their loved ones were abducted and the place they live in was destroyed by fire plus the fact that the people talked about stoning David probably because they blamed him for what happened. But he did not.

Instead, David called for the priest Abiathar (Because they sound the same, I have always think of Avatar after the first time that I read this name in the Bible), who joined David and his troop after he escaped from the sword of King Saul who wanted the priests of the Lord dead, and asked him to bring the ephod and inquired of the Lord.

This is what I like about David – he inquires of the Lord. He does not depend on his facility to rationalize. This part of David’s story in the Bible has never made sense for me not until post youth camp. Every after youth camp, the question I always ask myself as a leader is ‘what’s next?’

At this juncture, I believe that the Lord also tells us to “Pursue them” the same way that the Lord answered David with regard to his query of whether or not he should pursue the raiding party (the Amalekites) and overtake them. And what a wonderful promise of victory God has given to David and his men – “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”

I listened intently to the testimonies of the campers on the last night of the four-day camp, and my heart was crying especially to those whose parents are unbelievers because I once knew how it is to be a child to a set of one. It is not easy, I thought. Memories of that time when my father would come home so drunk especially during pay days and would start to become violent and that time when my mother mocked me for being ‘Buang (Crazy)-Again’ flashed in.

When the campers have retreated to their rooms that night and after I received instructions from one of the speakers of the camp, I caught sight of one of the campers who is dear to me. I approached him and had an intimate conversation with him. He has mentioned the same thing – that he almost was not able to join the camp because his father warned him not to because it is a ‘Born-Again’ religion activity. I put on a smile and explained how it is not about religion but about having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

During my devotion the following morning, the burden to pray for the parents was still in my heart. I continued to cry out to the Lord to rescue these young people and as well as their parents.

A day after the camp, I dropped a ‘hi’ to that camper in Facebook and asked him how he was. Eventually, he confided to me that his dad would not let him join the same camp next year anymore. I told him not to worry because there are still 365 days to spend for in prayer before next year’s camp. Things can and will change.

Everything that the enemy, the Amalekites, had taken was recovered when David and his men heeded of God’s green light signal to attack the enemy. The Bible tells us that nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl plunder or anything else they had taken. David was able to bring everything back.

All will share alike

The mission to pursue the enemy and rescue the people poses a challenge.

The challenge lies not on who they were fighting against. It is worth mentioning that the favor of the Lord really rests upon David because He has not given him to the hands of his enemies (particularly King Saul) and he even became a friend to his enemies (the Philistines). God even used an Egyptian slave of the Amalekites, who is a potential threat to David, to defeat the enemy.

The challenge lies among the circle of David himself. Not all men fought with David. When they reached Besor Ravine two hundred men chose to stay behind because they were too exhausted.

There were evil men and troublemakers too who do not want to share the plunder that they have successfully recovered to which David rebuked them telling them that: “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.”

I reckon that this must have been a long-time bad-attitude problem among his men because if it is not, then why did David ratify a statute and an ordinance with regard to this?

This is one of my reflections during the recently concluded Point of Difference youth camp.

Conscious, not manipulated

It is alright to be confused. It is good to be confused because most of the times, when we don’t have a grasp of things, it triggers us to search for answers.

Your question on ‘why do we need to go to Him when He has accepted us already?’ reminds me of a question I have before: ‘why does He need to die on the cross to pay for humankind’s sin when He can just wipe our trespasses off using His power?’

In everything, we should look up to Him as our example. Jesus was a humble man. Though He was the Son of the Father yet He chose to be like one of use to bore our sins and forgive us. We should be humble too like Him. The condition of humility signifies a state of consciousness.

When I said that we are accepted by Him, it means that He does not reject anyone who comes to Him. He is just waiting for us. He always welcomes us. You will not be able to appreciate this truth of Him waiting for us not until you realize or you become conscious of the real score of your spiritual life.

(But even if you’ll tell me that your spiritual life is alright, still there is a need for you/us to go to God and feel His acceptance. We need to go and depend on Him because I don’t think that it is possible for us to do things without Him.)

:)

An escape in Him

What fueled more Saul’s jealousy of David, after the latter has killed Goliath, was the fact that the women went out from the towns to meet Saul with dancing and singing: Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens thousands. The celebration was intentional but the women appeared to be insensitive to their lyrics and so Saul was galled and kept a jealous eye on David thereafter.

That is why David became a seemingly restless wanderer. He perhaps could be aptly called as the character in the Bible with No Permanent Address. It seems that it is a never-ending hide-and-seek game between him and King Saul. From Ramah to Naioth, to the great cistern at Secu, to Nob, to Gath, to the Cave of Adullam, to Mizpah in Moab, to the forest of Hereth, to Keilah, to the hills of the Desert of Ziph, to Horesh, to the Desert of Maon, and to the Crags of the Wild Goats. Name it, David was almost everywhere.

Saul was so desperate to have him a dead meat that he even attempted to give his daughters, Merab first and when it was unsuccessful, he gave Michal next to be a noose to David.

In all these attempts, I appreciated David’s understanding of the responsibilities of a king’s son-in-law that he did not accept the marriage proposal right away. And that I appreciated how David is passionate of being a warrior when he became please after hearing what the price is for Michal: a hundred Philistine foreskins. In the end, he and his men even went beyond what was expected. They killed two hundred Philistines.

Add to the stress of evading from the evil attempts of King Saul is the fact that David was with people who are in distress, in debt and who are discontented. It was an additional depressing emotional cargo for him. Like seriously, who would like to be with this kind of people at a time of crisis? But David did and even led these people.

Nevertheless, amidst the situation, the innocent David was successful in eluding the jealous King Saul. He has avoided thrice the spear that King Saul threw in his attempt to pin David to the wall. David is very crafty it was said but more than his craftiness and the friendship he had developed with Jonathan, the king’s son, I believe that it was because the Lord was with David that is why he survived from King Saul.

David was all over the place because there is only a step between him and death. Every day, it was a crazy trip for David and his men. But the Bible tells us that Day after day Saul searched for him but God did not give David into his hands.

From whom and what are you evading today? Remember that it only takes to be with Jesus for us to be delivered from our enemies.

Not a bad mum after all

The story of Jacob getting the blessing that was rightly for Esau, his older brother, seems to be a story where mothers are put in a bad light.

You see, if it not had been because of Rebekah, Esau could have enjoyed the blessings that have something to do with what God will be able to do for him; with his relationships with other people, political authority; and with his relationships with his own family, his brothers bowing down to him.

But Rebekah told her favorite son, Jacob, of what she overheard about what Isaac, her husband, has instructed Esau as a prelude to blessing the latter. She told her favorite to preempt Esau by getting a couple of kids so that she can prepare a scrumptious meal for Isaac who is almost blind because of old age. She told him to serve it after she has cooked it the way his father likes it so that he can get the blessing before Isaac dies.

As an effect, and to cut the story short, Jacob has deceived his father and got the blessing while Esau was left in a bitter cry after learning of his fate. I felt Esau when he asked if there is anything left for him and begged his father to bless him too. Poor boy.

I can’t help but wonder what could be behind this unfair orchestration by Rebekah? Well, for one, we can easily point to the fact that she does not like Hittite women because according to her she is disgusted living with them. And Esau, his eldest son, not only have one but two of this kind of women that his mother hates as his wives.

But you know, behind this seemingly bad image of a mother in the character of Rebekah who has snooped and devised a scheme to outmaneuver Esau, I saw the hand of God at work.

One, it is inevitable for me not to think of what has become of Esau’s fate as a consequence of selling his birthright to Jacob. By doing so, he has despised the Lord because the birthright is a scared heritage and does not speak of material things only but as well as spiritual position.

Two, and to end, Rebekah was simply used by God so that Isaac will not circumvent from the word of the Lord which she received at the time when she inquired of the Lord about her odd pregnancy. The Lord has destined Esau to serve Jacob. The giving of blessing by Isaac to Jacob was preliminary to the fulfillment of God’s plan.

Rebekah was not a bad mother after all.

Real winner

While waiting for my next game, a bunch of kids, apparently high schoolers, came in and not long after they have stepped in the badminton court, they started to have fun.

They excitedly hit the shuttle cock back and forth over the net while others were on the sidelines shouting and teasing and others just sat on the bench where their bags were placed. It was a group of more than ten young people who was with their kuya who stood out because he was bigger and taller than anyone in the group.

Later on, more youngsters arrived and joined the group. They became more rowdy. There were three girls in the group. Somebody held a DSLR and captured almost every move of his playmates. I heard them ask their kuya whose turn is it to play inside the court and they followed his word. I cannot not-watch them. From where I was sitting, I incessantly heard heaps of boisterous laugh from the group.

On the other side of the badminton dome were a Korean guy, with eye glasses on, and a petite Filipina girl. I noticed that while the girl prepared herself to hit the court, the guy went out and puffed his cigar. He went in after a minute or so, passed by me and I perceived the scent of the cigar which I have always disliked. Soon, they started to play the game.

I was still waiting for my opponent for us to continue the third set of our match but since he has not arrived yet, Kuya Jeff, the COEMA badminton in-charge, asked me to play against him.

After beating me, he told me that we’ll go over to the Korean guy and his mate and play against them. I liked the idea so I followed after him. He introduced himself first then myself and I extended my hand and shook each of theirs. The guy’s name is So and the girl is Kirsten.

We played. Our team has passed through half the match point when So raised his hand, bent over, and gasped for air. We continued the match but later, when it was more than what he can bear already, he stepped out from the court. We were worried and repeatedly asked him if he was ok. He said yes but we doubted.

We chatted with Kirsten for a while. We asked her where they are from. We found out that they are from Immanuel Mission School. Then Kuya Jeff had a conversation with her with regard to the school where she comes from. And then it went on from one point to another. She is nice.

Because we were left hanging, another guy from COEMA filled in for So and partnered with Kirsten. In a blink of an eye, we saw So sitting outside and from where we were standing, it seemed he was vomiting. We stopped hitting the shuttle cock and Kirsten approached him. She tapped him in the shoulder, asking him again if he was ok.

She left So and walked towards us. We asked her if he was vomiting. She said no. We felt that our team has nauseated So after making him run for the shuttle from one side of the court to the other. But it was just a game.

After a while of staying, when their things were packed, Kirsten and So left. But our new-found friends passed by us, thanked us while shaking our hands. They smiled. And I was surprise because So handed over the Gatorade energy drink that he bought from the canteen to Kuya Jeff.

At the end of the day, the muscle pain all over my body was so killing me that without a doubt I headed straight to a Thai Massage parlor. The old lady at the counter greeted me with a smile and upon seeing the Yonnex racket, she said "Aha! Badminton." With what she blurted, she was implying that I have come to the right place for relaxation.

While lying on my belly, enjoying the soothing massage of the masseur and the repertoire of oriental music, I realized that I lost three games today but gained a wonderful insight about relational ministry and a number of friends from COEMA and So and Kirsten.

I won.

Reply

The only beautiful woman in my life at the moment is my mum. :)

Your query with regard to my new love interest whom you have described as beautiful reminds me of my bible reading last week which is about Sara and Abraham and Isaac and Rebekkah. In the story, both guys denied their beautiful wives because otherwise they will be killed on account of the beautiful wives they have. Well, I could just imagine how painful it is for the wives to be denied by the husbands themselves. But you know, they have to go through this feeling lest their husbands will be killed.

If you're wondering if I was hurt, let me tell you that I was not hurt hurt, you know. All is good. All is well, as the famous line from the movie The 3 Idiots goes. Let His plan prevail in our lives. You don't need to apologize, but yeah if you insist, apology accepted.

Thanks for the prayers. I badly need them, especially now that the youth camp is fast approaching. And other than that, I've got uni work and other church work to attend to.

It dawned on me, again, earlier, that I was flitting and was spreading my self thinly all over the place. I really have to learn the art of saying no to things that do not really matter. I read an article in a daily in my cube earlier, it's titled Forgetting. And let me share these lines with you:

...that life is not about remembering or even re-learning what is important, but about forgetting what is not.

I believe that deep in our hearts we already know what is important. We were created with that truth and beauty in us. Yet along the way, distracted by a world that places value on what is seen and measured, we have replaced what is important with what is not.

We need to develop the habit, we need to develop the skill of forgetting. We need to because every waking day is a constant battle between what is valuable and what is not. We already know what matters, but we need to forget what doesn’t.

In the twilight of her life, as the sun set and the end of her journey neared, Lola (grandmother) had already forgotten what was unimportant. After 80 years worth of living and working and smiling and laughing, she knew love is all there is to it. That money lasts weeks, positions last years, careers last decades—but relationships are forever.

Thanks for being a friend. Have a great day J**! :)