| | The Art of Inquiry
I'm reading the story of David in 1 & 2 Samuel. Two observations are jumping out at me:
1) The people that are drawn to David while he is on the run from the reigning king, Saul, are misfits. They are renegades, maybe former mercenaries, anti-social desert dwellers, and counter-cultural dreamers who didn't fit any of the established military or government structures of his day. What draws them to David? His character? The excitement of living life on the run? A burn for the adventure of raiding enemy outposts for survival? This was no small band. During his season as a fugitive, David gathers at least 400 fighting men and their families to be a part of his family/ army.
The author says this: "All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around them and he became their commander." (1 Sam. 22:2) It doesn't really sound like David was working with a bunch of National Merit Scholars or West Point Grads. But because he's running for his life, he doesn't get to choose who's on his team. Actually, I find it fascinating that he let any of them stick around at all. It seems like it would be much easier to hide one guy in a desert than it would a few hundred.
So David is stuck with emotionally, financially and socially unstable people… who carry weapons.
But my guess is that over time, the skills, stories and relationships that they all developed together bonded them around common cause and mission. During their travels, shared meals and combat, they developed uncommon loyalty to one another and simple, but fierce, set of shared values.
On the day David finally came out of hiding and became king, who do you suppose filled the positions of military and government influence and power? All of his misfit friends, who were misfits no more.
God has strategically filled your life with people who drive you crazy. They have consistently proven themselves to be irresponsible, frustrated and immature types with a penchant for drama. Could it be that God wants transform them into champions and heroes under your influence? Sometimes we don't get to choose who gathers around us, looking to us for guidance and leadership, but we can choose how we lead them. We must determine to live our lives for something so great, so transcendent, so mystic that others cannot help but follow us on the Way.
(The second observation? It's coming soon.) |
| | Posted 1/17/2006 10:18 PM - 29 Views - 6 eProps - 5 comments
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