1 Samuel 22:2 stood out in my readings yesterday (need a reading plan? check this): “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 captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.” (ESV) It’s in the context of David fleeing from Saul as he tries to kill David. I love it. All the bothered, bankrupt and bitter join David’s team. This isn’t a crack team, far from it. It’s a bunch of broken people.
I love the fact that this motley crew of fellas are ultimately formed into a pretty lean mean fighting machine under David’s leadership. I don’t want to overly allegorize, but perhaps there’s a lesson here for Christian leadership. Sometimes in Christian ministry we set the bar so high for participation on a ministry team that we only allow those who’ve got it all sorted out to be part of the action. That’s dumb.
Don’t write off the bothered. Don’t write off the bankrupt. Don’t write off the bitter.
David pulled together a killer team because “the LORD was with him”. But David is only a shadow of the reality to come in Christ. On Jesus’ team, it’s only broken people allowed. He didn’t come for the healthy, but for the sick. He’s a pretty good captain!
Next time someone doesn’t measure up to your list of requirements, perhaps you could think again.
As a broken man myself before I met the true Jesus, all I can say to this is Amen. It’s why I love listening to preachers such as Mark Driscoll, C.J Mahaney and Matt Chandler as they are bluntly open about their brokeness before coming to faith and the struggles they’re often facing on a daily basis. they create that vibe like,” we’re all in this together and if it werent for Jesus we’d have nothing”
Grace and Peace. J
What I love about that part of 1 Samuel is it comes off the back of David scurrying about in caves trying to hide from Saul, having to eat the holy temple bread just to survive, and pretending to be a loony to avoid having other people kill him as well.
All while he is the Lord’s annointed one. Despite the seeming overwhelming odds, God works in his weakness to make him (for a time) a strong and just king.
Jesus, in the same way, arrives on earth in a stable, born, in potentially embarrassing circumstances, to an unmarried woman. He goes through life scorned by most, misunderstood by others (including his family), forever surrounded by followers who were either treacherous, self-centred or just slow-witted, only to be tried and unjustly sentenced to murder for the most heinous of crimes and to the most painful of deaths.
The difference – Jesus was broken down more, Jesus didn’t screw up being godly near the end, and he didn’t just die, but he rose again.
And he still gathers broken and screwed up people to himself 2000 years later.
Amen. Amen!
Amen
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