Covered In His Quiver
Lamentations 3:21-23 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. 22 The LORD'S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
As fall quickly approaches and the anticipation of the upcoming season gets me excited about what is ahead. I’ve been going over my equipment, making new arrows making sure we have everything ready for when opening day comes. One thing I’m wondering about this year is what quiver to use.
Over the years I think I have used almost every style of quiver there is. Slide on, strap on, bolt on, back quiver, hip quivers and over the shoulder. I can remember my first quiver.
I bought my first bow, a Bear Grizzly when I was a sophomore in High School. I knew nothing about archery, but for some reason, just had a desire to try it. Between reading Outdoor Life and Fur, Fish, and Game, my interest grew and so I plunged forward and basically learned on my own. On of my first mistakes was buying for first quiver. It was a slide one that didn’t have a hood, and as you can imagine, it wasn’t the smartest thing to be carrying around full of broadheads. Of course, that is what I did and after a pretty nasty cut on my hand, I realized I had better try something else.
One of the biggest blunders I ever made with a quiver was when I was out west hunting elk. After studying my topo maps (no google earth back then) I noticed what looked like a small meadow a couple of ridges west of our camp. After talking it over with my buddy Glenn, we decided to try and get there at daylight the next morning. Well, the climb was more difficult than we thought and we didn’t arrive until well after daybreak. I can remember feeling pretty bummed out- all that work. I was afraid for naught.
As we sat down at the edge of this meadow and ate a pop tart, we began discussing what our next move should be. All of a sudden, we could hear branches breaking, and two 5 point bulls with about a dozen cows spilled out of the timber around 80 yds or so from us. Glen decided to sneak over where the elk came out into the meadow in case there were more coming and I was going to try and get around in front of the ones we could see.
As I snuck around the edge of the meadow, I started down a well-used trail and didn’t go very far when I saw a cow walking towards me on the same trail. She stopped about 10 yards, looked me over, and then just continued on her way just swinging off the trail a little. The next thing I know, I can see the bull coming, and when he stepped out, it was a sight that I will never forget. He stepped into the sunlight and the sunlight was reflecting off his antlers and he just seemed to glow. (He was just a rag horn, but to this NE flatlander, he was a giant). He proceeded to follow the cow but did swing out a little further but still less than 15yds. I drew my bow and released and watched my arrow nick a small aspen twig, cause the broadhead tipped arrow to strike back too far and at a weird angle and he took off across the meadow. I let out a bugle and he stopped, swapped ends, and headed right back towards me and stopped about 40 yards out standing broadside. I reached down to my hip quiver to take a follow up shot, but it wasn’t there. I had taken it off when I sat down to eat my pop tart. I couldn’t believe what I had done! I started sneaking back in the timber to go back to get my quiver, when suddenly, the bull threw up his head and dropped dead. What I didn’t know was that the bull had run directly where my buddy Glenn was waiting, and He had made the fatal shot. What a relief, one thing I can promise you, I have never left my quiver behind again. We went back where I had shot and found that my arrow had nicked a small aspen and deflected the shot.
We use our quivers basically for two reasons. One, to protect our arrows, they are a vital part of our equipment. We want them straight and the broadheads sharp, and two, to have them ready and close at hand when the time comes to use them. My quiver did me no good on the edge of that meadow.
In Isaah 49:2, the last phrase of this verse, God proclaims that He has made Isaiah into a select arrow and hidden him in his quiver. As a follower of Jesus Christ, this truth also reveals two things that God thinks of us. One, that we are significant in His sight, so much so that He sent His son to die in our place for our sins, and because of this He wants to protect us by hiding us in His quiver. Two, when we are hidden in His quiver, we are close at hand, ready to be used by Him as He sees fit. One thing that you can be sure of is that God will never leave His quiver behind. He always has us close to Him.
Lamentations 3:21-23This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. 22 The LORD'S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
God bless, pick a spot, and shoot straight.
Written by Keith Cline – God’s Great Outdoors Board Member
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