Private schools want to safeguard their reputation and want more students to join their institutions in the subsequent years. For that, they carefully check the students’ performance when they are in lower classes. If they are average or below average, they summon their parents and ask them to admit their children to other schools. Only bright, above-average, promising, and intelligent are retained in that school. The average and below-average students are abandoned by the institution. From the world’s perspective, picking up the best students and making them pass exams may be a good strategy. True service is to pick up those who failed and invest in them to succeed. David became a leader of the abandoned, who were transformed into mighty men. (I Samuel 22:1-2)
Debt, Distress, Discontent, Desperate
There were a few in debt. Probably, the economy in Israel under Saul was not doing well. These people experienced financial loss and debt. Some were in distress due to family relationships or grief or disaster. Many were discontent too. That means they experienced the bitterness of the soul. They did not find purpose and meaning in life.
Chosen by God
These men were not chosen by David himself. They all came to David at the Adullam cave. The cave was like Noah’s ark, where all these men converged.
Low time of David
These men did not come after David became the king. They came when David was declared a rebel, hunted, despised, and running for his life. It showed that these men discerned God’s call for David, as the future king. Like Jonathan, they perceived God’s hand on David. God trained David in the skill of shepherding people. (Psalms 78:72)
Transformed men
The four hundred men were not a mob. Under the authority of David, they were disciplined to be an army. “They were brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. Their faces were the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles in the mountains.” (I Chronicles 12:8) Abandoned people can become anointed people.
Am I an anointed servant or an abandoned one?