Seeing Reason in the Cave
1 Samuel 22:1-4
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by life? We all do from time to time!
Our text in 1 Samuel finds David in one of those times. He’s in a dark, damp, dreary, depressing cave. He’s experienced the loss of everything and everyone he leaned on in his life. David is in one of the cave experiences of life. What David did not see at the time, but soon came to understand, was the fact that God was going to use his time in the cave to help David grow stronger in the Lord.
So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it, they went down there to him.
David has been brought to the absolute bottom of life! He is hurting, he is broken and he is defeated. The Crown Prince of Israel is living in a cave! We should not expect to get through this life untouched and unaffected by hardship, sorrow, or trial, especially as a true Believer.
God allowed David to come to this cave so that David might learn not to lean on the props of family, friends, finances, fame, the flesh or the future. David was taught, through his sufferings, to wholly lean upon the Lord. God was attempting to develop David into the man of God the Lord wanted him to become. When the Lord has brought you to a place where you have no one and nothing but Him, He has done you a tremendous favor.
VV. 1b-4… and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it, they went down there to him. 2 Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him. 3 And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” 4 Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.
After a while, people began to show up at David’s cave. David’s family came out of fear of Saul; the rest came because they believed David was God’s man for the future. God used this motley group of people to show David that He still had a plan for David’s life.
David rose to the challenge and the truth of his character was revealed in what he did during those times. Suffering through troubled times will expose your heart like few other things can! Nothing demonstrates our level of commitment to God more than our continued obedience and faithful service, even when we are in one of the caves of life!
V.2… “Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.”
David’s family comes to him in that cave. Here are people who used to doubt David. His own father ignored him, 1 Sam. 16:11. His oldest brother Eliab publicly rebuked David and criticized him, 1 Sam. 17:28. Now, they see in the man before them God’s man and God’s choice for king.
The distressed came to David. This word means “to be under stress and under pressure.” We are also told that those who were in debt came. This speaks of those who “could not pay their bills.” The discontented also came. This word refers to those who are “bitter and who have been mistreated.” I am sure that David couldn’t see in his life what they saw. While David could only see the cave; those who came to him could see the Crown! They gathered themselves around him and believed in him, even when he was down!
Going through the pain of seeing all his props taken away was a painful experience for David. It was a humble beginning, but David was focused and soon he would walk out of that cave and accept the crown. If there is any one benefit of the cave that stands out is that it will tighten your focus onto that which is most important: finding and doing the will of the Lord.
The cave refined David’s life and helped to prepare him as a vessel to be used by the Master.
What about you? Are your cave experiences blessings to your life, or are they burdens that seem too heavy to carry? You must learn to “See Reason IN YOUR Cave”
