PREVIEW: David had a cave. But so did the other greats in the Bible: Joseph had a prison; Moses had the desert; Jeremiah had a pit; Daniel had a den; Paul was in and out of jail so many times, like Motel Six, they “kept the light on for him.” Even Jesus had a wilderness. Oh, he got a cave, too. He once spent three days in one. If Jesus had “cave-time,” the cave won’t be optional for you. Every believer gets “the cave.” What is the cave? The cave is a place of death. It’s where you die to yourself. The cave is the place of testing; it’s the blast furnace for moral fiber. The cave is where your mettle gets tested, your maturity gets revealed, and your heart gets exposed! Put a person in the cave of distress, discouragement, or doubt, and true character will show up. And if you’re brave enough to open up to the truth about you, the cave will reveal just how much work God still must do to get you ready for great things.
A Journey of Worship // Psalm 142:1
We all prefer to live out in the sunshine of God’s grace, but from time to time we get the “cave” instead. “Cave time” is just a core curriculum in the classroom of spirituality maturity. Call it whatever you want: the pit, the prison, the desert, the wilderness—the cave is basic training for believers.
Joseph had a prison; Moses had the desert; Jeremiah had a pit, Daniel had a den, Paul was in and out of jail so many times, like Motel Six, they “kept the light on for him.” Even Jesus had a wilderness. Oh, he got a cave, too. He once spent three days in one. If Jesus had “cave-time,” the cave won’t be optional for you. Every believer gets “the cave.”
What is the cave? The cave is a place of death. It’s where you die to yourself. The cave is the place of testing; it’s the blast furnace for moral fiber. The cave is where your mettle gets tested, your maturity gets revealed, and your heart gets exposed! Put a person in the cave of distress, discouragement, or doubt, and true character will show up. And if you’re brave enough to open up to the truth about you, the cave will reveal just how much work God still must do to get you ready for great things.
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. (Deut 8:2)
Likewise, the cave is the place of separation. Not only does God reveal the true you in the cave, but he also strips you of every misplaced dependency. In the cave, God separated David from everything he had once depended on, and all that was left for David was God himself.
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deut 8:3)
The cave was perhaps the most frustrating period in David’s life—but in hindsight, it turned out to be the most fruitful. That’s because the cave is also the place of forging. The cave is where God breaks you down to build you up:
Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. (Deut 8:4-5)
That’s what God does in the cave. And God does some of his best work in caves. It was there in the cave of Adullam that David wrote three of his most moving psalms—Psalms 34, 57 & 142, including our key verse: “I cry aloud to the Lord…I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.”
If you are in a cave and complaining to everyone else but God, you are missing a great opportunity to pour out your heart to the only one who can do something about it. Good things always happen when you get honest with God. So, try talking to him—and be patient; God does great work in caves.
If you doubt that, just remember that empty cave on the outskirts of Jerusalem. For three days, it held a crucified body. But on Easter Sunday, the crucified Jesus rose as Lord and Savior for all humankind.
God does great work in caves—the best of which is resurrection. Perhaps that will change your mind about caves.
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