"My Time In The Cave", Part I

This is a teaching that I am excited about because it is "real" and will help you on your journey. Please sit back with a cup of hot tea, a blanket and just let the Lord 'soak" you in His love, revelation and wisdom... here it comes!

When I visited Israel several years ago it was during a time of turmoil in my personal life. A business I was involved in was failing due to the 9-11 attacks (I had never been involved in a business that was failing before), I was spiritually “dry”, friends either left me or seemed preoccupied with their own “stuff” so it was a lonely, dark “night of the soul” all around. I was going through what most people occasionally experience in their lifetime- fear, doubt, worry, significance and questioning everything and everyone in my life. I am experiencing it again now, but this time I understand the purging that HAS to take place for me to be a Child of the King worthy of the call... read on...

Some men (and women, too!), especially during this type of season, tend go out and get a cute chic on the side, buy a sports car or motorcycle, become withdrawn, take up weird hobbies and all sorts of odd behaviour to fill a void that can only be filled by a God-given “purpose". Because what G-d is doing is showing you the places that are void in your heart of HIM. Don't resist what Heaven is doing in your life, nor doubt your value or worth. That is the lie your head tells you. But just the opposite is true. G-d loves you enough to draw you away, show you your emptiness and offer to fill you with REAL purpose!

I said earlier i went on another trip to israel- well one of my goals behind “another trip” to the Holy Land was to find the cave of Adullam, the place where David wrote his first Psalms during the loneliness of his wilderness years (yes, YEARS). I wondered, as I sat there in that dark, damp place, what was the secret that David discovered in that cave. I was waiting for some "vision" or "word" from heaven, an angel or even David himself to show up! But NOTHING! I admit it was moving and certainly a priviledge, and did put "a picture" in my head as I read those Psalms David wrote, but I needed "Hollywood" moment here people!! COME ON G-D, JUST a little bolt of lightning, maybe a voice saying "This is Larry, of whom I am well pleased" for those with me to hear, or something!

Upon my return, I ran into a friend who is a practicing “orthodox” Jew. We speak a lot about the Word of God together. His insights as a Jew are amazing. He knows of my Jewish heritage and thinks I “turned my back on the faith”! We agree to disagree about issues pertaining to Jesus though. But I asked him his take on Adullam. He said to me, "You know what David found in Adullam, don't you? He found eternity" (ad olam -- eternity). WOW! That is so true! David came out from the cave with purpose, support and a new vision concerning his own life. Although hidden from the enemy, those whom God was also dealing with and planned for David to mentor found David and the group in that dark period in all their lives became a band of mighty Men of Valor! So today I'm going to take you to Adullam, where David discovered the secret to true Kingdom life, purpose and eternity.

There are four parts to our time together, so well narrated in the story, found in First Samuel 22:
1 Entering into the cave: What is it that drives us there?
2 Inside the cave: What do we find once we are all alone?
3 From inside looking out: What is God planning here?
4 Leaving the cave: How does the cave affect our future walk?

Begin by reading the text. 1 Samuel 22:1-5:

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. And 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.

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." Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. And the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah." So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth. (NASB)



I. Entering into your Cave: A Tomb of Sorts (22:1a)

In the first scene, David enters the cave:

“So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam;”

During our trip, my guide led us to the cave on the side of a forested hill. From the crest of the hill we could see the valley of Elah, where David killed Goliath, about four miles to the west. Fixing our gaze to the north-east, we could see Bethlehem. We could even see the tops of the buildings in Jerusalem, about twelve miles distant. This was familiar territory to David. As a shepherd boy, it was here that he cared for his father's flocks, killed a lion, a bear and did some pretty ambitious exploits. On reaching the cave, we found a small opening, through which we made our way inside. As our eyes adjusted to the light, we discovered that the cave has several large chambers, separated by narrow passageways. It could indeed accommodate and conceal 400 men, as the text says.

Entering the cave, descending into the depths of the earth, we felt as though we were descending into a grave. (The place was even littered with bat droppings- gross.) Adullam was a symbol of rejection for David- a last resort of sorts. He fled there because he could find no other safe place- no other welcomed place. Saul's royal court was fraught with danger for him; he found no resting place in the walled cities of Judah; he could not get help from the foreign powers in Gath. The only safe place was a cave, and that was what he found in Adullam. It was, for all intents and purposes, a tomb. He went in expecting to sit and feel sorry for himself. He wasn’t on a church men’s retreat he was hiding, fearful, rejected, wondering where God was in all this!

David describes his loneliness in Psalm 142, which he wrote while he languished there in Adullam. Verse 4:

Look to the right and see;
For there is no one who regards me;
Escape has perished from me;
No one cares for my soul.

Jesus also was born in a cave. His kingdom likewise was a threat to the powers that be, so the only safe place for him was a cave. It is the same for all who wish to follow him. Eternal life is birthed through the gateway of rejection. Being abandoned by others is a blessing, however, if that is what it takes to drive us to God. For those in the Kingdom called to be reformers, it is the only way! Remember this little Kingdom secret- it may not make sense or mean much to you now, but it will some day… your enemies promote you, not your friends.

NEVER resist the loneliness and rejection that comes your way in this season. Your response to things determines your destiny. No matter how you feel also remember that God is not closer to you in the times you “feel” Him than he is when you don’t. His presence in our lives is promised to be consistant and never-ending. Sin, darkness, feelings, people’s words, devils, angels… NOTHING can separate you from the LOVE of God. Remember that my fellow reformer! If David can feel lonely and think God has left him alone to his enemies, we have David’s experiences written down under the inspiration of God’s direction to tell us David’s feelings, like ours, aren’t always what is really happening to us. Rise above this season and thank Him who counts you worthy to share in His suffering and agony of the soul so you can come into a greater fullness of His revelatory purpose for your life!

In the next part of our time together, David learns something that will change his life (and yours) forever.

II. Alone Inside the Cave: A Womb (Ps 142:1-5)

Inside the cave, purposely disconnected from all others, David learns to pray and to connect with God. He renders his musings into music, melodies that become worship in the hands of the shepherd-poet that we still, today, call sacred. His agony produced writings that allows us to easily relate and express the groanings of our own soul to our Father. What was birthed through David’s darkness is still feeding us today. As a Kingdom reformer, you too, will be called to pay a price so others, many others, will be blessed!

Before we set out to find Adullam, we made a visit to the House of Harrari in Jerusalem, whose craftsmen have recreated the Davidic harp. The instrument, which is made from a single piece of hollowed-out wood, makes a beautiful sound. It struck me that the soul is a lot like David's harp. It is suffering and rejection that hollows out the soul, deepening and widening the heart so that it resonates. The strings of the soul are like the poetic words in the psalms that we say, and then the wind of God's Spirit blows across the strings and our soul resonates with life as we worship and connect with God.

The other wind that blows in our life, the winds of adversity, also allows the heart strings to play melodiously if we have spent adequate time in Adullam! That is the glory of heaven that rings true as a witness, or a seal, that creates a peace (shalom) in the midst of a storm! Hallelulia!

Psalm 142 describes how David connected with the Lord in the loneliness of this cave.

(a) His Plea

With my voice I cry aloud to the LORD ;
With my voice I make supplication to the LORD;
I pour out my complaint before Him;
I declare my trouble before Him. (1-2)

His affliction pressed so heavily on his soul that it created a great outcry in his heart before God. Holding nothing back, he poured forth everything that was troubling his spirit.

(b) His Plight

When my spirit faints within me,
But You know my way.
In the way where I walk,
They have hidden a trap for me.
Look to the right and see;
For there is no one who regards me;
Escape has perished from me;
No one cares for my soul (3-4).

The Sovereign God knew all about David's spirit fainting within him, yet he allowed these terrible things to befall him. This is what drives David to say at last, in verse 5:

(c) His Portion

I cried out to You, O LORD:
I said, 'You are my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living.' (5)

The cave was a shelter from the world and a sanctuary with God. In that tomb David died to others; and in that womb he was tied to God alone. In Adullam he wrote the psalms, the deepest expressions of spirituality that have ever been penned and great direction and expression available for us today!

From the cave we traveled to another cave named Eremos (the Greek word for "desert"), beyond the Sea of Galilee. This is the cave where Jesus often withdrew to find safety and solitude. Yet we often protest that living in our fast-paced world we haven't much time for deep reflection, let alone poetic expression. Do you think David had time? His life was in danger, yet he would not go on until he worshipped God in song.

The cave is a shelter from the world and a sanctuary with the Lord, a safe haven where we disconnect from others in order to connect with God. There we can reflect on the eternal significance of what God is doing amidst the mundane things of life, get rest for our souls so we can clearly see what is happening and most importantly it is ONLY there we can find the rest for our soul promised us.

In the next part of our time together God surprises David with something that he was doing outside the cave. Stay tuned!