Cave Seasons

Many people God used greatly spent considerable time alone.

Moses spent 40 years as a lonely shepherd. John was exiled to the island of Patmos for around 3 years. Joseph spent significant time in a prison cell. The woman with an issue of blood was isolated for 12 years. Jeremiah was alone in a world of people who condemned him. Paul spent years in prisons for preaching the Gospel.

The Bible is full of stories of people who spent time alone and away from society. It some cases it was punishment and in others is was because of a calling, but these people came out of their loneliness different, changed.

Have you ever been to a lonely place? Have you ever went through a time in your life where you were alone even though their were people around you?

God may or may not cause you to go to the lonely cave, but I assure you, there is purpose in the cave.

We pick up the story of David where he is running from Saul. Saul wants to kill him and David is trying to stay alive.

1 Samuel 22:1–2 (ESV)

David at the Cave of Adullam

22 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. 2 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.

Adullam was an ancient city in the Judean lowlands, roughly between the hill country of Judah and the Philistine territory.

David was hiding from Saul there. David was celebrated by the people, but hated by the king.

Here is David’s situation: David had been: Anointed by Samuel, Victorious over Goliath, Given a position in Saul's army, Celebrated by Israel, Married to Saul's daughter, and Loved by Jonathan.

Now, hated and hiding.

Have you ever felt like this? Have you felt like your alone? Have you ever felt like hiding? Like no one understands you? Things were going so well, now you feel alone and isolated.

If you haven’t you probably will.

David was anointed to king, but he wasn’t sitting on the throne, he was sitting in a cave.

David must have felt disappointed. Maybe at himself, maybe at God, or just disappointed at his situation.

Isolation can amplify our emotions. Fear feels bigger. Disappointment feels heavier. Loneliness feels deeper.

Have you ever asked God, “where are you?” That’s usually was we do in the cave. We feel God has left us.

Just because you’re in the cave doesn’t mean God gave up on you. It may mean God is using the cave to teach you.

There is a difference between getting alone with God and hiding from everyone because we're hurting.

The cave became a place of purpose for David.

Four hundred people came to see David at the cave.

David was in a cave because he was running for his life, but God was already bringing people into his life who would become part of his future.

David didn’t let the cave identify him. So often we let our misery and our distress identify us. Have you ever seen a miserable Christian? I’m not talking about someone who is going through something and overcomes it. I’m talking about believers who every day they seem distressed and in misery.

There is a difference between going through a painful season and making that painful season your permanent residence.

There is a difference between being wounded and continually reopening the wound.

There is a difference between mourning what happened and allowing what happened to define who you are.

If you have to go to the cave, make your visit as short as possible. You and God deal with the situstion, then get our of the cave.

Look at the people who came to see him:

They were in distress, they were in debt, they were bitter and no happy with the way things were going.

This is often the means by which we end up in the cave.

Finances have us depressed. We are in distress about our life situation. We are bitter towards people and we are simply unhappy and depressed.

David was distressed about his situation, but he was in the cave because he was hiding from Saul who was trying to take his life.

Our caves can be the result of our own decisions or they can be the result of something completely out of our control.

We can feel lonely distressed because of our situation, but pulling ourselves away from society or other people to bask in our own pity isn’t going to solve anything.

There is a difference between being placed in a lonely season and choosing isolation as a response to that season.

The cave was necessary for David’s survival, but it’s not necessary for our self-pity.

David didn’t choose the cave, Saul forced him there. David didn’t stay there because he felt sorry for himself, he began leading the people God brought to him.

Sometimes we seek out a cave on our own. We actually look for places and reasons to isolate ourselves because of what we may be going through.

David’s isolation drew people who were distressed one way or another. In our isolation, we become our own audience of misery.

We replay the conversation.

We replay what they did to us.

We think about what should have happened.

We think about what could have happened.

We rehearse every disappointment.

And the more we think about it, the bigger it becomes.

The cave becomes an echo chamber.

These 400 men became his followers.

The cave became a place of growth. It was preparing David to take the throne.

The cave wasn’t about only about what God was doing in David, it was about what God was doing through David.

Dark moments will come. Distress will be felt. Hardships will arise. Loneliness will be felt. These are all normal experiences. But to allow them to push you into isolation or loneliness, a place were you feed off despair, can lead you into a very dark place.

Each of us will take a trip to the cave at some point. We will hurt, we will be stressed. We will need to mourn.

Allow the short stay in the cave to grow you, not enslave you.

Don’t let your short time in the cave convince you that you have nothing to offer.

Some of you have David-like faith in the cave.

I know some of you have been through a tough time since I’ve known you. And let me tell you, you have encourage me more than you know. Your faith in God and trust in His word has been an amazing display of the Christian faith. That’s who I want to be like.

When I mourn, when I am distressed, when I am going through a hard season, I want to be like some of you that have endured times like this. I want to learn from you.

I want my faith to pull me from the cave and go on an do what God called me to do.

He stood on the porch staring down at the floor while Pilate tried to talk the people out of his sentence. Instead of hearing the crowd respond with “release Him” or set Him free”, he heard the terrifying words, “crucify Him, crucify Him!” The overwhelming sadness He must have felt, the distress that coursed through His veins. Pilate gives the crowd a choice, Jesus or Barrabas. “Give us Barabas!” the crowd shouted. Knives just as well should have pierced His heart at that point. This was His cave, His lonely place. He experienced solitary confinement as the people He so much loved turned on Him. The very people His Father wanted to spend all of eternity with, now wanted Him dead.

Folks, that’s a cave. That’s a dark place. But you know what? Jesus didn’t stay there. He knew there was so much more ahead.

The cave is not the end of the story!

For those going through depression. For those going throgh struggles. For those dealing with a difficult season, know that you are not alone. Also know that there is something much bigger ahead for you.

We must trust God through the tough times and allow Him to shape us into His purpose.