Yes, I know we’ve skipped quite a few chapters, we’ll be getting back to them tomorrow. But Chronicles talks about this at this point and chronologically speaking, it seems appropriate to put it here.
These chapters talk about all the men that joined David while he was a fugitive from Saul, and the men that eventually helped him take the throne after Saul died.
It’s interesting to note the kind of men that joined him. In 1 Samuel 22:2, it says that those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around David and they became his army.
In other words, these were flawed men that gathered around David.
You see the flaws most of all in Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, the nephews of David. Each one of them tended to be bloodthirsty men, quick to vengeance and quick to kill.
All of the men who followed David were flawed. And yet, they had one thing in common. They all loved David and were extremely loyal to him.
You see this in the incident where they broke into the Philistine camp to get water just because David said he was thirsty.
And later, when men from the tribe of Benjamin (Saul’s tribe) came to David, they said,
We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse.
Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you. (1 Chronicles 12:18)
And because of that love and loyalty towards David, they were able to accomplish incredible things.
It’s the same with God and us.
We are all flawed. All of us struggle with sin. All of us have our blind spots. All of us have our weaknesses.
But if we love God, and choose to follow him with all our hearts, he can use us to do mighty things.
David had his mighty men, but God can use anyone, man or woman. All he needs is our hearts. Does he have yours?
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 