David was plucked from obscurity to become a captain in Saul's army following David's defeat of Goliath and his other victories.
David even became Saul's son-in-law when he married Saul's daughter, Michal.
However, Saul became extremely envious of David's victories and, more to the point, David's popularity.
He chafed at the chant, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."
Finally, Saul plotted to kill David and David flees for his life.
Eventually David finds himself alone at the cave of Adullam.
Psalm 142, written by David, gives voice to his despair: "Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me" (v.6).
In 1 Samuel we are told that David's family joined him there, along with four hundred other men.
These men are described as in distress, in debt or discontented.
They were the outcasts, the disenfranchised, the fringe elements.
They were losers.
Reading about them reminds me of Jesus' words, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
It also raises the question, does the church of today behave the same way?
Do we welcome the outcast, the fringe elements?
Do we seek out those who can't pay us back, who might never join our congregations, who can't fill our offering plates?
Those are the folks that Jesus served.
Jesus relied on the generosity of the wealthy to serve those who weren't, the resources of the accomplished to serve those who weren't, the prosperity of the in-crowd to serve the outcast.
By global standards, most of the members of most of our churches are wealthy. (Generous may be another matter.)
The question is, do we use that wealth to reach the outcast or maintain our comfort?
Psalm 142 concludes, "Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me" (v. 7).
Those four hundred outcasts were the righteous.
They may have been on the fringes of society, but they were smack-dab in the middle of the Lord's righteousness.
The outcasts are still out there.
What are we going to do about it?
