Letter To Our Children

Hello friends!

If you read the above scripture, what a way to start a team. Distressed, in debt, and bitter in soul. About four hundred men!

The persons in distress were essentially stressed out, especially those who were persecuted by Saul and his men for their loyalty to David.

Those in debt were the poor, whether poor by a wrong done to them or bad decision or greedy creditors who charged rates of interest that were so large, a loan was sure to end to their ruin. Yet not only the debtor but his children might also be made slaves repaying the debt.

And those bitter in soul were angry people who just could not be happy as things stood.

Distressed, in debt, and bitter in soul. About four hundred men. What a way to start a kingdom. Nevertheless, God takes the part of us we really would not want others to see and turns our shame into a showcase of His grace.

David’s Kingdom, which began with four-hundred men, distressed, in debt, and bitter in soul, would also be the beginning of the golden age for Israel. (You can read more about them in 1 Chronicles 11, 12; 2 Samuel 23.)

It is hard for me not to see the Gospel in this story. The Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ, welcomes stressed-out souls, under the great debt of sin, unhappy because they are unholy.

Anyone who comes to Him, no matter how bad, stressed, or miserable they are—He changes into His holy people, gives them the gift of His righteousness, buries their sin in His mercy, and places them in His service.

The Christian knows that Jesus Christ is their David, their commander, and they, warts and all, have been gathered to Him for His kingdom. We are both weak in ourselves but strong in him. The tension is to be embraced.

God populates His kingdom with the distressed, with those unable to pay their debt of sin, and bitter in soul. He brings them into His care that He would build His church, His way.