October 2, 2026
They were distressed, in debt, and discontent, not exactly the kind of bunch you’d want to throw in with.
Imagine 400 upset, dead broke, and disgruntled guys. We read in I Samuel 22 that it was just such a group that gathered around David at the cave of Adullam. And he became their commander. This motley crew would become an army. To the other D words, add defectors. I Chronicles 12 shares more added to their number: “Some Gadites defected to David in his stronghold in the wilderness.” These men were brave and skilled. “Their faces were the faces of lions, and they were swift as gazelles in the mountains,” (12:8). Together, in the hand of God, this mismatched bunch would do great things, eventually helping David gain the throne.
The Old Testament is full of stories where God used unlikelies. Shepherds turned deliverers, farmers to prophets, old men into boat builders, a prostitute into a hero, an orphan became queen, and a Moabite widow the grandmother of a king. Each account gives courage and excitement to His followers in 2023.
In the New Testament, Jesus called an unlikely group of fishermen to change the world. Dirty, smelly fishermen were the first to answer His invitation. Guys who caught fish for a living would now fish for men. Not having all the answers, not having pre-disciple training, they laid down their livelihoods and followed Christ.
Matthew/Levi was at work collecting taxes when Jesus passed by. (Tax collectors were the most hated of the day.) Had he been troubled or dissatisfied with his life? Luke 5:27-31 shares he got up, left everything and followed Him. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t ask questions, didn’t wait for a second invitation. He moved right away and immediately invited his friends to meet his new Boss.
Are you distressed? In debt? Discontented? That’s where God does His best work, when He is about to do something amazing.
If upset, dead broke, and disgruntled guys became an army in the Old Testament, if smelly fishermen and hated tax collectors in the New Testament spread the gospel, what can God do with our lives? He gets glory when He uses unlikelies. It encourages this 60-year-old Croc-wearing girl from Jerry Bottom. If we are willing to surrender our past, present and future. If we give our hopes, dreams, connections, talents, passions to the Creator of the Universe, the One Who gave us breath. If we are willing to get up and lay it all down, what would He do with us and through us? Let’s do it. Today. Stop putting it off. Surrender our will for His will and let’s see what happens.
In Matthew 11:28, Jesus invited, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden…” Weary and heavy-laden sounds like distressed, in debt, and discontented to me.
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Dawn Reed is a pastor's wife and newspaper columnist. Reach her at preacherswife7@yahoo.com.
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