Not long after he killed Goliath, David lost just about everything — his job, his wife, his best friend, his mentor, even his dignity. With no one and no place to go, he ended up in a cave. But the cave that looked like death turned out to be a place of resurrection (that part sound familiar btw? 🤔✝️). It was there in the cave that David found out he had more family and friends than he thought.

David…escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. – 1 Samuel 22:1-2

God hadn’t forgotten David. He could see him, even in his darkest moment. And God saw fit for some people to show up. Not Saul’s people from his palace, but David’s people from the pasture — His dad and brothers — shepherds, like David. And then a bunch of other people came that were beat down and rejected just like David. David had some Freinds in Low Places. Good folks to have. This group might not look like much, but they got each other. All of them could say “Oh I’ve been there, David. Now I’m here for you.” An old Tracy Lawrence song comes to mind: ‘You Find Out Who Your Friends Are.’ Look it up. Good song. Remember, no matter where you are God can still get to you. He sees you. He has a plan. He may very well be rallying some troops to send to you right now.

One more thing — We don’t see anything in the story indicating David sent for his family or his friends in low places to come. They just showed up. We need to follow their lead. Sometimes we’re too hesitant to go to hurting people. We think we don’t wanna bother them, or get in the way, or we assume someone who is better at that kinda thing is gonna do it. But there’s too many people hurting for us not to be there for everyone that we can! We can’t wait till they ask. Lots of times people that are hurting are in such a dark place they don’t even know how to ask. That little nudge that you and I feel to reach out to someone going through a hard time? That’s very likely the Holy Spirit prompting us, and we want to follow His lead, above all else.

This ragamuffin group that joined Dave in the cave? They would become “David’s Mighty Men.” This dark place was the start of something great. The hard stuff helped David relate to others and others related to him. Their shared community of hurt became a training ground for God’s glory. God still does stuff like that!

Y’all keep lookin up!