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.