Sheltered from the storm

“My brothers, you can’t do this with what the Lord has given us! He kept us safe and gave us victory over the raiders. 
[..]
“Here is a present for you from the loot we took from the Lord’s enemies.”

ext. from 1 Samuel 30

I could still cry.

I still wonder why.

I wish ours had been that other life;
ours those other times. But I can’t see how…

now.

I wish it hadn’t been our
hands, our swords, these words,

you think I didn’t want to
stay hidden, the moment I feared this
would have to be the way… the only one?

In my mind I fight and follow my King
and I still call… my heart still yearns
for a ceasefire it will never know.

In the silence,

He has strengthened His hold…

and my arms,

for His’s are the portions you
hid in your hands.

What could’ve been, remains…
forever gone.

And because I deem Him higher,

I crave His taking us out of the
bunch every time.
Even if the lot of you hate it,

I know we’re not built for the masses,

And I’m okay with
those having been your thoughts.

In the silence,

we don’t mourn, anymore,
for He saved us.

We may be weak,

Not to your liking,

as we never were;
now I’m sure.

It is my last hopeful bit of love,
leaving my side to where you are,
this “hate” you called.

May it not be the dream I had but His mercy,
when we’re both looking at our last day and hour…
here on earth.

Because just as He did with David, Esther, Ruth, Abraham and many more:

In the silence,
He brought them through.

And yes,
He also gave them swords, words;
He heard their cries,
and to save them He left His throne.

He’s used to doing so,
I’ve come to notice.

And so, may you know, too:

it is with heaviness and trembling hearts
we grab our swords to clash with your own,
the ones you unsheathed a long time ago

…and only because He brought us forth.

Now, a few stories before bed. Maybe these will explain what He
meant when this began, and thus, what I mean now.

As Habacuc reads in chapter 2, I begin:

² The Lord gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. ³ Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. ⁴ And this is the message: ‘Those who are evil will not survive,^[b] but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.’

Now Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet, and she was serving as a judge for the Israelites at that time. ⁵ She would sit under a certain palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel would go there for her decisions. ⁶ One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam from the city of Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, has given you this command: ‘Take ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them to Mount Tabor. ⁷ I will bring Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to fight you at the Kishon River. He will have his chariots and soldiers, but I will give you victory over him.’”
⁸ Then Barak replied, “I will go if you go with me, but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go either.”
⁹ She answered, “All right, I will go with you, but you won’t get any credit for the victory, because the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.” So Deborah set off for Kedesh with Barak. ¹⁰ Barak called the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men followed him. Deborah went with him.
¹¹ In the meantime Heber the Kenite had set up his tent close to Kedesh near the oak tree at Zaanannim. He had moved away from the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses.
¹² When Sisera learned that Barak had gone up to Mount Tabor, ¹³ he called out his nine hundred iron chariots and all his men, and sent them from Harosheth-of-the-Gentiles to the Kishon River.
¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! The Lord is leading you! Today he has given you victory over Sisera.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with his ten thousand men. ¹⁵ When Barak attacked with his army, the Lord threw Sisera into confusion together with all his chariots and men. Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶ Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-of-the-Gentiles, and Sisera’s whole army was killed. Not a man was left.
¹⁷ Sisera ran away to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because King Jabin of Hazor was at peace with Heber’s family. ¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, sir; come into my tent. Don’t be afraid.” So he went in, and she hid him behind a curtain.^[a] 19 He said to her, “Please give me a drink of water; I’m thirsty.” She opened a leather bag of milk, gave him a drink, and hid him again. ²⁰ Then he told her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks you if anyone is here, say no.”
²¹ Sisera was so tired that he fell sound asleep. Then Jael took a hammer and a tent peg, quietly went up to him, and killed him by driving the peg right through the side of his head and into the ground. ²² When Barak came looking for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come here! I’ll show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera on the ground, dead, with the tent peg through his head.
²³ That day God gave the Israelites victory over Jabin, the Canaanite king. ²⁴ They pressed harder and harder against him until they destroyed him.

Judges 4

⁴ David and his men started crying and did not stop until they were completely exhausted. ⁵ Even David’s two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, had been taken away.
⁶ David was now in great trouble, because his men were all very bitter about losing their children, and they were threatening to stone him; but the Lord his God gave him courage. ⁷ David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod,” and Abiathar brought it to him. ⁸ David asked the Lord, “Shall I go after those raiders? And will I catch them?”
He answered, “Go after them; you will catch them and rescue the captives.”
[…]
The raiders were scattered all over the place, eating, drinking, and celebrating because of the enormous amount of loot they had captured from Philistia and Judah. ¹⁷ At dawn the next day David attacked them and fought until evening. Except for four hundred young men who mounted camels and got away, none of them escaped. ¹⁸ David rescued everyone and everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives; ¹⁹ nothing at all was missing. David got back all his men’s sons and daughters, and all the loot the Amalekites had taken. ²⁰ He also recovered all the flocks and herds; his men drove all the livestock in front of them^[a] and said, “This belongs to David!”

1 Samuel 30, various verses

⁷ King Xerxes then said to Queen Esther and Mordecai, the Jew, “Look, I have hanged Haman for his plot against the Jews, and I have given Esther his property. ⁸ But a proclamation issued in the king’s name and stamped with the royal seal cannot be revoked. You may, however, write to the Jews whatever you like; and you may write it in my name and stamp it with the royal seal.”
[…]
¹⁰ Mordecai had the letters written in the name of King Xerxes, and he stamped them with the royal seal. They were delivered by riders mounted on fast horses from the royal stables.
¹¹ These letters explained that the king would allow the Jews in every city to organize for self-defense. If armed men of any nationality in any province attacked the Jewish men, their children, or their women, the Jews could fight back and destroy the attackers; they could slaughter them to the last man and take their possessions. ¹² This decree was to take effect throughout the Persian Empire on the day set for the slaughter of the Jews, the thirteenth of Adar, the twelfth month. ¹³ It was to be proclaimed as law and made known to everyone in every province, so that the Jews would be ready to take revenge on their enemies when that day came. ¹⁴ At the king’s command the riders mounted royal horses and rode off at top speed. The decree was also made public in Susa, the capital city.
¹⁵ Mordecai left the palace, wearing royal robes of blue and white, a cloak of fine purple linen, and a magnificent gold crown. Then the streets of Susa rang with cheers and joyful shouts. ¹⁶ For the Jews there was joy and relief, happiness and a sense of victory. ¹⁷ In every city and province, wherever the king’s proclamation was read, the Jews held a joyful holiday with feasting and happiness. In fact, many other people became Jews, because they were afraid of them now.

Esther 8:7-15

 Some time later Naomi said to Ruth, “I must find a husband for you, so that you will have a home of your own. ² Remember that this man Boaz, whose women you have been working with, is our relative. Now listen. This evening he will be threshing the barley. ³ So wash yourself, put on some perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go where he is threshing, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ Be sure to notice where he lies down, and after he falls asleep, go and lift the covers and lie down at his feet. He will tell you what to do.”
⁵ Ruth answered, “I will do everything you say.”
⁶ So Ruth went to the threshing place and did just what her mother-in-law had told her. ⁷ When Boaz had finished eating and drinking, he was in a good mood. He went to the pile of barley and lay down to sleep. Ruth slipped over quietly, lifted the covers and lay down at his feet. ⁸ During the night he woke up suddenly, turned over, and was surprised to find a woman lying at his feet. ⁹ “Who are you?” he asked.
“It’s Ruth, sir,” she answered. “Because you are a close relative, you are responsible for taking care of me. So please marry me.”
¹⁰ “The Lord bless you,” he said. “You are showing even greater family loyalty in what you are doing now than in what you did for your mother-in-law. You might have gone looking for a young man, either rich or poor, but you haven’t. ¹¹ Now don’t worry, Ruth. I will do everything you ask; as everyone in town knows, you are a fine woman. ¹² It is true that I am a close relative and am responsible for you, but there is a man who is a closer relative than I am. ¹³ Stay here the rest of the night, and in the morning we will find out whether or not he will take responsibility for you. If so, well and good; if not, then I swear by the living Lord that I will take the responsibility. Now lie down and stay here till morning.”
¹⁴ So she lay there at his feet, but she got up before it was light enough for her to be seen, because Boaz did not want anyone to know that she had been there. ¹⁵ Boaz said to her, “Take off your cloak and spread it out here.” She did, and he poured out almost fifty pounds of barley and helped her lift it to her shoulder. Then she returned to town with it. ¹⁶ When she arrived home, her mother-in-law asked her, “How did you get along, daughter?”
Ruth told her everything that Boaz had done for her. ¹⁷ She added, “He told me I must not come back to you empty-handed, so he gave me all this barley.”
¹⁸ Naomi said to her, “Now be patient, Ruth, until you see how this all turns out. Boaz will not rest today until he settles the matter.”

Ruth 3

And as Habacuc ends in the chapter:

Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless—like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves. ⁶ The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, “You take what isn’t yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?”

⁷ But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you! ⁸ You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

⁹ You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by violence, and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger! ¹⁰ But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many nations you have only brought ruin on yourself. ¹¹ Even the stones of the walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.

¹² You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder. ¹³ The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labor, and all they have built goes up in flames. The Lord Almighty has done this. ¹⁴ But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord’s glory as the seas are full of water.

¹⁵ You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbors; you made them stagger as though they were drunk. ¹⁶ You in turn will be covered with shame instead of honor. You yourself will drink and stagger. The Lord will make you drink your own cup of punishment, and your honor will be turned to disgrace. ¹⁷ You have cut down the forests of Lebanon; now you will be cut down. You killed its animals; now animals will terrify you. This will happen because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

¹⁸ What’s the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it—a god that can’t even talk! ¹⁹ You are doomed! You say to a piece of wood, “Wake up!” or to a block of stone, “Get up!” Can an idol reveal anything to you? It may be covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it.

²⁰ The Lord is in his holy Temple; let everyone on earth be silent in his presence.

Porque la tierra será llena del conocimiento de la gloria de Jehová, como las aguas cubren la mar; esto, es lo que dicen las tablas con la visión que el Señor mandó a Habacuc a escribir y este, es el tal conocimiento.

¹² “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. ¹³ They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴ They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.

Revelation 17:12-14

-SFTS