Havering in Adullam

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 captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. 1 Samuel 22:1-4 ESV

David’s recipe for “church” planting:

Be labeled as a rebel.

Dodge several lethal spear chucks.

Run hard (and don’t forget the holy bread).

Develop sound “spittling” and “scrabbling” skills (know how to “go around the bend”)

Find a nice, dank cave and hide.

And just watch all the bitter, hurting malcontents flow right in!



I love this description of David’s haverim.



Would you choose a group like this? A “church” like this? Friends like this? Or would you keep looking in neighboring caves for something brighter, something more opptimistic and cheery?

David did not choose them. Ready or not, they came to him. And from these rough and hurting units no doubt arose many of David’s “mighty men” in later years. It just strikes me how backwards we can be in our search for churches, clubs, groups, and even just friendships with “beautiful people” whom we can dig and who can dig us…until it’s their nails digging into us, and then off we go. How many fights did David have to break up in that cave? How many swords were crossed, noses broken, mouths bloodied? Yet these became David’s men, and he owned them.

Perhaps the first challenge I would suggest for us in being people “after God’s heart” like David is our robust embrace of some hearty malcontents with messed up hair and messed up lives; to find our own Adullam.

What do you think?