(Read 1 Samuel 22:1-8)
Today I will continue with “Faith and Patience Volume 5 – Greater is Coming!” In yesterday’s message, we were able to identify with David at his lowest point. I am sure we all know what that feels like. We pictured David in that cave, all alone, not knowing what he was going to do. It was then that God poured out His love to David in a mighty way. I can only imagine what David felt like when he walked out of the cave and saw his brothers. All the issues they had in the past, all the bickering and fighting, was washed away in a wave of love. David then looked again, and his parents were there too. I can imagine him weeping and thinking, “How did they find me here?” And then, also seemingly out of the blue, more men started showing up. God was sending man after man, and they all pledged their allegiance to David. This ragtag group of men, about 400 in all, came to be known later as “David’s mighty men.” David and his men built a stronghold in the cave of Adullam. They wanted to be ready in case Saul ever found them there. David fortified his position and trained his men.
The Lord blessed David in that cave. He stayed there until he heard from God to move. That’s a good point to bring out. Sometimes, when you don’t know what to do, you should stay where you are until you can hear from God clearly. Remember, when David put his parents in his own form of ‘witness-protection’ program, he told the King of Moab that he was waiting to find out what God was going to do for him. David did not know what was next, but he did know that God was up to something.
David continued to wait on the Lord until God sent the Prophet Gad to go to David to give him a word. The Prophet said, “Leave the stronghold and return to the land of Judah.” That’s the kind of stuff I love. I thank God for divine clarity. This was a clear word from God. David received it, believe it was from God, and obeyed it immediately.
David and his men went to the forest of Hereth. It did not take long before the news of his arrival in Judah reached King Saul. When the King received the news he was sitting beneath the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, holding his spear and surrounded by his officers. Saul immediately lost it. The king shouted, “Listen here, you men of Benjamin! Has that son of Jesse promised every one of you fields and vineyards? Has he promised to make you all generals and captains in his army? Is that why you have conspired against me?”
Here you have the sitting King of Israel expressing his frustration to his men. Saul was no longer stable. He knew the Lord was no longer with him, he knew the Lord was with David, and it was driving him crazy. Saul continued shouting, “For not one of you told me when my own son made a solemn pact with the son of Jesse. You’re not even sorry for me. Think of it! My own son—encouraging him to kill me, as he is trying to do this very day!” Saul wanted his Soldiers to feel sorry for him and he thought his own son was conspiring to kill him. This is a picture of what happens to those who fight against God’s plans and purposes.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things:
1. God will locate you wherever you are.
— David would later pen the 139th Psalm. In this song, David explained how impossible it is to hide from God. There is nowhere you can go to escape God’s presence. If you go up to heaven, God is there. If you even go down to hell, God is there too. If you were to travel from the east to the west, God will be there waiting on you, He will be with you as you go, and He will also be back where you left, all at the same time. God is everywhere at all times! God is God!
— God located David in a cave in the middle of nowhere. Not only that, but God sent his family to meet him there to support him. Without any GPS locator on his person, without tracking software on his phone, and without a lojack on his car, God saw to it that David’s family and 400 men ‘just so happened’ to show up in a cave in Adullam. That’s crazy. Think about that for a moment. Think about how amazing this is. Think about what this says about God’s love and His dedication towards us. God loves us SO much that not only will He track us down, but He will see it to that others provide you the encouragement you need, when you need it.
— When David was at his lowest point, God met him where he was. He located him, and He then led him out! God will do the same for you. He will locate you right where you are. And He won’t leave you there. He will lead you out of every bad situation and lead you over every obstacle that stands in your way. God is God, and besides Him, there is no other!
— Give God praise for being a God who loves us enough to locate us! God will find you at the exact moment that you need to be found! God will track you down and send people to you when you need it the most. God is God, His love is immeasurable, and His grace is inexhaustible. Meditating and medicating on that should give you peace!
2. Hearing from God is essential.
— Once God locates you, He will LEAD YOU! The leading aspect is critical. Some Christians attempt to drive themselves and then ask God to bless whatever they come up with. They take pride in saying that they are “driven.” But God did not call us to be driven. He called us to be led. When you dedicate your life to being led of the Holy Spirit, you are acknowledging that you don’t have all the answers, you won’t always know what to do, where to go, or what to say when you get there. When you are led of the Holy Spirit, you are saying, “I am not in charge. I don’t know everything. Sometimes I don’t feel like I know anything. But while I don’t always know WHERE I am going, I certainly know WHO I am following! I am like a sheep, and the Lord is my shepherd!”
— David knew God was up to something, but he did not know what it was, so he stood pat until he heard from God. Today, as Born-Again believers, we have God’s Spirit inside of us and the Father can lead us by His Spirit. A question I get all the time is, “How do you hear from God?” While God can speak to you a myriad of ways, one thing I have learned is that you cannot be in a hurry. Many Christians spend five minutes (if that) in prayer and then want to hurry to the next thing. While you can’t put a timeframe on it, you must make time to spend time with God. The more time you spend with Him, the more you will learn to discern His voice.
— This series is about faith and patience. Sometimes we simply need the patience to WAIT until God speaks, and the determination to NOT MOVE until He does. David was going to stay in that cave until God spoke. Once God spoke, he moved. This is how we should live.
3. God still speaks to us!
— God sent the prophet Gad to David, and He still uses this method today. Some Christians believe the time for prophecy is over, but I don’t know where they get that from. God has spoken to me through many who are anointed with the prophetic and through others, He simply led to share a Word with me. The point here is, when waiting to hear from God, don’t put limits on how He can speak to you.
— Don’t put limits on the way God can speak to you. He can give you dreams while you sleep, open visions while you are awake, He can send people to you with a Word, He can speak to you by His Spirit while you are reading the Bible, or praying, or driving, or just about anything. Open yourself up to hear from Him and you will.
4. God will deal with your enemies.
— Don’t waste good energy on bad things. Don’t keep good records of the wrongs people have done to you. If you live your life focused on your divine purpose, you won’t have time for things that are not productive.
— David did not have to fight Saul. Saul was losing his mind under the pressure of being against God and his anointed.
— When people come up against you, God has a way of removing His protection from them and allowing them to feel the weight and pressure that comes when someone fights against God’s Kingdom plans and purposes. At that point, all you have to do is stand by and watch as they buckle under the pressure.
— Keep your mind on God and not your enemies. God will see to it that they receive whatever is coming to them. They will reap a harvest on every seed sown. So don’t waste good energy on them. Remain focused on being you!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for speaking to me on a regular basis. I am Your sheep, I hear Your voice, and the voice of a stranger I will not follow. I am never hopeless because I am never helpless. You are always with me, every second of every day. Your Spirit has taken up residence inside of me, and You lead me by Your Spirit. I have an inner conviction that leads me in the way I should go. You also speak to me through others. You send people my way — some who are anointed to be prophets and some who are not — to speak a word into my spirit. I receive the Word You send through others and I obey it as a tailor-made Word for me. You also speak to me through Your written Word. As I read Your Word, the words often jump off the pages and come alive in my heart. Your Word is the ruler by which I judge every decision, and I feast on Your Word every day. Father, I don’t have to loosely stumble my way through life. I am led of You in all my ways. I enjoy walking with You and You walking with me. And when people come up against me, and Your Kingdom plans and purposes for my life, I can simply stand still watch them buckle under the pressure that comes to those who foolishly fight against God and His anointed. GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
