Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Samuel 22:1-2 (English Standard Version)

1 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. 2 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.

David was on the run. He escaped to a cave to “lick his wounds” as we would say today. He is raising an army so that he can move into his rightful place of power.

David recruits the best and brightest for his army. NOT! Who is in David’s elite crew of 400 hundred men? The men were in distress, debt, and bitter in soul. A big bunch of losers who failed in business, agriculture, family, and everything else. On top of their failures, they are bitter about the whole thing. It is someone else’s fault. LIFE IS UNFAIR!

Uh, well, this isn’t going too good so far, is it.

The (hi)stories that follow tell us that this all worked. This army succeeded in many situations against all odds. Huh? How? We can assume that David was an inspiring leader. These men performed above what they had done previously in life due to David.

Perhaps it was God. Who does God recruit? Me. Huh? Me? I’m supposed to fill-in-the-blank-with-all-sorts-of-things-that-you-wouldn’t-recruit-me-to-do. Really? Really. That is how it works. That is how God works. The words to that song “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform” come to mind. Can’t explain it, but folks like me get ‘er done for God sometimes. I should start believing in this army of bitter and distressed debtors.