David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. (1 Samuel 22:1, 2 ESV)
Perhaps nothing describes the life of ministry more than this verse. It is a picture of many of the people who followed David in the Bible and who have followed me in my 40+ years of ministry. And, as we describe it in our Celebrate Recovery - it is those with hurts, habits and hangups.
These are people who come at their lowest point in their life and with nowhere else to go. It is the broken and wounded with no hope for the future. Interestingly enough - it is to these that I'm given the opportunity to speak into their lives and bring healing to their desperate situations. Hopefully, I am able shape and mold them into trained and mighty men and women for God. The 400 men that showed up with David had no hope for their future and yet they were turned into the mightiest of warriors alongside of David.
Notice some of their astounding exploits from 2 Samuel 23...
- Adino slew 800 men with a spear in one battle - 23:8
- Eleazar struck down the enemy until his hand clung to his sword - 23:9-10
- Shammah defended a plot of ground against an enemy army - 23:11-12
- Three of these men snuck behind enemy lines just to get David a drink of water from a well in Bethlehem - 23:15-17
While David attracted men like him - souls in distress, He also reproduced men like him - warriors and conquerors. When the down and out come your way - don't look at what they appear to be but look (through your spirit) at what they could become.
Go and build disciples!
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