The "Church of Adullam" (2)

 

"ADULLAM...WHERE...ALL WHO WERE DOWN ON THEIR LUCK CAME."  1 SAM 22:1-2 TM
 
Although he was raised in a good home, Whit Criswell got hooked on gambling and ended up embezzling from the bank where he worked. When the auditors found out, he decided to end his life. He wrote a suicide note, drove to the outskirts of town, parked his car and put a gun to his head, saying, "Go ahead, you no-good slob, it's what you deserve." But he couldn't do it. So at dawn he returned home where police arrested him. He felt humiliated being handcuffed in front of his friends and family. But he was also liberated, because he no longer had to live a lie. Criswell's prison cell became his "cave of Adullam," the place where he turned back to God. When he was released he joined a church doing odd jobs, and eventually became a staff member. In 1998 another church asked him to be their senior pastor, and today it's one of Kentucky's fastest growing congregations. Another cave dweller "ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven," by the amazing grace of God!

The introduction to Psalm 57 describes it as "A song of David when he fled from Saul into the cave." In the first verse he says, "Be merciful to me, O God...my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by" (NKJV).

Are you feeling down on your luck today? Do you see yourself as damaged goods? Instead of wandering alone in the wilderness, come and find what you need in God's presence; come, find purpose and direction among His people in the "Church of Adullam."