What do you think of when you hear the word “misfits”? The 1970’s punk rock band? Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys? Maybe for you it evokes memories of feeling totally out of place in high school or your first job.
At an Acts 29 conference in 2008, I distinctly remember feeling like I didn’t quite belong. I had planted Living Hope about a year before, and went to the conference for some training. I walked in and immediately felt like the only one who wasn’t from Seattle! Everyone had on flannel, skinny jeans, big beards, and tattoos. I didn’t know what to say when people asked what city I was from – Southern York County doesn’t have any cities! I felt like I was back in my middle school cafeteria. (In truth, most people were gracious and my memory is probably a bit exaggerated. Thankfully, the network has grown and widened since then!)
For some, feeling like a misfit isn’t about feeling out of place at an event. Some have lived their whole lives feeling like they don’t have a place to truly belong. But, for everyone who has ever felt like a misfit, an outcast, or a nobody, there is a place you can call home. For anyone who has never quite fit in, you have a purpose. For those who struggle with imposter syndrome – if anyone ever found out who you really were, you’d never be invited back – there is a place you can be comfortable with who you are. Welcome to the cave of misfits!
In the book of 1 Samuel, David is a fugitive from King Saul. He is on the run, cut off from his family, unsure of what is next. After David escapes from trouble in a foreign city, we read:
“David departed from there and 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).
When David was at his lowest, his parents and brothers come join him. In fact, four hundred men gathered to him. Did God send the cream of the crop to join David in the cave? Were these men trained military soldiers, wealthy civil leaders, or wise political leaders? Nope! God sent David a group of outcasts. Some were in distress – they were suffering, hurting, and full of sorrow. Some were in debt – they were poor and facing financial trouble. Others were discontent – their souls were bitter, resentful, angry.
These misfits gathered with David and he became their commander – they were all outlaws together! These men had no money, resources, or status to offer David, only their allegiance. But in this cave, David would protect them, lead them, and infuse them with a mission. David would rally them together, equip them, and train them into a fierce fighting force. God would use this small group in the cave to rebuild Israel and launch the greatest season of prosperity in the nation’s history!
God loves to gather the misfits, give them a purpose, and train them for mission – just look at the ragtag group of sinners and outcasts who followed Jesus!
If you feel discouraged, discontent, or distressed – if you feel too down-and-out, too-far-gone, too-sinful – unusual, unwanted, un-useful…you are just the kind of person Jesus loves to gather around him. If you lack money, success, skills – if you struggle with addiction, sexual immorality, shame – if you are hurting, bitter, broken…welcome to the cave of misfits.
I have a friend who planted a church years ago to reach the outcasts that other churches weren’t reaching. He made t-shirts with the name of the church on the front, and on the back it said, “Church for a loser like me.” Now understand this: you may come to Christ as a nobody, but no one stays that way in God’s kingdom! In God’s kingdom, he will not only give you a place to call home, but he will give you a calling and a purpose. Christ will equip you to walk with him on his mission to redeem the world!
“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).
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