everyone who was in distress. . .
We heard a pastor this last Sunday talk about David's experience in 1 Samuel 22 where he is in the cave of Adullam. Probably not most people's favorite David story. But, it is important in understanding who David is. A lot of the Psalms were written during this time, when David was getting his heart right with God. In that respect, David and Moses have a lot in common. They both were molded while out in the wilderness and both were shepherds. First, they had actual sheep and then they had God's sheep.
In this passage, David has just return from an ill-advised trip to Gath. He actually had to act like he was crazy to get away from the king there. He is still try to escape from the deadly hand of Saul. So, he goes to this massive cave and there his family comes to him. I like what it says in verse 2 "And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there was about four hundred men with him."
What I see in this passage is a group of people who were discontent with the way things are. They didn't like what Saul was doing, perhaps I am reading too much into it, but I think that discontent was also spiritual. For Saul was not a godly man, even though he was anointed by Samuel. In some respect, I think that is good if we have some discontent, some yearning for more. For this is not our home on this earth. We don't see things as they should be or as they will be. We don't see God's will completed. They wanted more of God and more of the leadership of a man of God. So, they sought him out.
God here is slowly, man by man building an army. It will not be just for the days that David is in the wilderness. These men were men that David would mold and shape and would go against armies much bigger than them and be victorious. They followed this man into battles that would have made others run from because of who he was. David found out who he was when he got into this cave and sought God's heart. It would make him write words such as in Psalm 57 "Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me. For my soul takes refuge in Thee; And in the shadow of Thy wings I will take refuge, until destruction passes by."
You see David learning that he shouldn't put his faith in man like he tried to do with the king of Gath. He learned who he could trust and who he could not. He will make that mistake many more times and need to be reminded time and again. The thing is though, we all need to be reminded. We need to remember who we should be placing our trust in. We need to remember to be a little less quick to trust in what we see in front of us and quicker to go to God in prayer. We need to learn how to hide in the shadow of His wings just like David learned.
In this passage, David has just return from an ill-advised trip to Gath. He actually had to act like he was crazy to get away from the king there. He is still try to escape from the deadly hand of Saul. So, he goes to this massive cave and there his family comes to him. I like what it says in verse 2 "And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there was about four hundred men with him."
What I see in this passage is a group of people who were discontent with the way things are. They didn't like what Saul was doing, perhaps I am reading too much into it, but I think that discontent was also spiritual. For Saul was not a godly man, even though he was anointed by Samuel. In some respect, I think that is good if we have some discontent, some yearning for more. For this is not our home on this earth. We don't see things as they should be or as they will be. We don't see God's will completed. They wanted more of God and more of the leadership of a man of God. So, they sought him out.
God here is slowly, man by man building an army. It will not be just for the days that David is in the wilderness. These men were men that David would mold and shape and would go against armies much bigger than them and be victorious. They followed this man into battles that would have made others run from because of who he was. David found out who he was when he got into this cave and sought God's heart. It would make him write words such as in Psalm 57 "Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me. For my soul takes refuge in Thee; And in the shadow of Thy wings I will take refuge, until destruction passes by."
You see David learning that he shouldn't put his faith in man like he tried to do with the king of Gath. He learned who he could trust and who he could not. He will make that mistake many more times and need to be reminded time and again. The thing is though, we all need to be reminded. We need to remember who we should be placing our trust in. We need to remember to be a little less quick to trust in what we see in front of us and quicker to go to God in prayer. We need to learn how to hide in the shadow of His wings just like David learned.
