Bitter or Better, You Choose

When you are in the cave of difficulty and discouragement, you must decide whether your experience will make you bitter or better. David could have looked at Saul as the cause for his cave. Instead, he chose to see God. That’s why Saul neither defined nor dominated his experience, because for David, the cave was full of God, not Saul. If you allow Saul to dominate your cave—whatever your Saul is: disease, divorce, disappointment, or death—you will be disillusioned; you will grow bitter. If you choose to see your cave as the place where God is, you will be deepened; you will get better!

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 24:1-3

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave.”

Once again, David finds himself in the cave. Once again, he is just a step ahead of death. Once gain, King Saul is hunting David down like a dog, determined to do away with what he insanely perceives as a threat to his monarchy. And once again, God delivers David from Saul, and from death.

This isn’t the first cave for David. Nor is it the first time he barely escapes death. As we saw in 1 Samuel 22:1, God had been preparing David for a later date with destiny when he would indeed serve as Israel’s king in Saul’s place—and the cave was the classroom for David. In many ways, this is where David learned to be king: he learned to hear from God and he learned to totally depend on him, even for his very life. Hiding in this cave of extreme adversity, David found that in God, there was no greater helper. Hearing from God and trusting in God—two qualities for a great and godly king that David would become, and two qualities for a great and godly life that God has destined you to live.

But that makes it sound too easy for David. It was not. Learning to hear and trust is hard work, it is a grind, it is a moment-by-moment battle with the flesh. And one of the things that David surely had to battle was a sense of abandonment and bitterness. God had thrust him into the limelight as a national hero and anointed him as future king by none other the great prophet-judge Samuel, so why had the Lord now abandoned him and failed on his promises? Certainly, David battled those thoughts, but at the end of the day, he gained victory over them. At the end of the day, he had determined to throw in with God rather than either his feelings or his circumstances. He decided to trust the promises of God.

When you are in the cave, you have got to decide whether your experience will make you bitter or better. You will either grow brittle, insecure, and disillusioned with God, or you’ll grow stronger, more confident and go deeper with God. We all know people who have either grown disillusioned or deeper in hard times; the cave is the place where they become bitter or better. What’s the difference? It boils down to the perspective they choose by which they interpret their cave of difficulty.

From a human perspective, David could have looked at Saul as the cause for his cave. Instead, he chose to see God. That’s why Saul neither defined nor dominated David’s experience. He didn’t kill Saul when he had the chance (1 Samuel 24:5-7) because for David, the cave was full of God, not Saul.

If you choose to see your cave as the place where God is—that is, you focus not on what is happening to you, but on what God is doing in you—you will be deepened; you will get better! If you allow Saul to dominate your cave—whatever your Saul is: disease, divorce, disappointment, or death—you will be disillusioned; you will grow bitter.

Who is filling your cave—God or Saul? Just remember, what dominates your cave will define your experience! You have got to decide what that will be. You are the only one who can make the choice. So choose God—it is the only good choice you have.