Your Cave of Adullam

Night before last I had a dream about living in a cave.  Chuck and I were temporarily living in this cave with other people.  I only had realization of knowing two others, our friends Lydia and Karen.  The cave was very clean and empty, uncluttered.  Areas had been carved into the wall of the cave to sit or lay down and rest.  The walls and the floor were a dark burnt orange/red color such as in Sedona, AZ.  Someone served us a full plate of food on plates that looked to be man made and were rectangular and had individual compartments in it so the food did not touch each other.

When I awoke I pondered about this cave. It appeared that this cave had been prepared for us and that all the provisions we needed for nourishment and rest had been made.  Two essential necessities, but no luxuries.  We had not brought anything with us from home to clutter up the cave. We apparently left everything behind and were totally dependent on someone else to provide our needs.

My direction of thought immediately went to David and his experience of dwelling in the cave of Adullam. David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam (1 Sam 22:1) David was called out when he was young by the prophet Samuel and anointed as King of Israel.  However, for years the kingship was not even in sight, matter of fact he had to have begun to wonder if Samuel was just making that up on a day he was mad at Saul or something.  Saul not only remained King, but he was determined to kill David.  I can hear David saying "Who do I think I am that I could think I could be a king of Israel?  Why didn't I just stay with the sheep where I belong?".

David went from the field of sheep to being anointed as king in a private moment. From there he killed the giant and had everyone celebrating him and giving him glory. He ended up in the palace with the king's daughter and a covenant friend named Johnathan.  It must have appeared God was opening the door to his becoming the anointed King. Well, God was preparing David for kingship but there were a number of unpleasant steps to walk first that were far from the palace.  If you study David's life you will see a picture of a king that does not have your typical king's life of pomp and circumstance.  Most of his life as king was spent on the run, living in caves with his subjects being made up of rejects.  Wouldn't you have begun to wonder if this king thing was just a bad prophetic word?

David is a good example to many of us when it comes to our call or destiny in Christ.  Many times we too are given a prophetic word or hear a still small voice that calls us into our destiny.  We get all excited and we just know that the Lord is going to do great and mighty things through us.  We look at others in ministry and picture ourselves doing what they are doing.  The Lord usually allows a few things to happen that encourage us that this truly is our call and He allows us our moment in the palace.  Then suddenly there is a betrayal or some circumstance that causes us to have to leave the palace and run for our lives into the place of hiddenness.

What we fail to recognize is that this place of hiddeness is a place prepared by God to meet our needs while he prepares us for our destiny.  It is also a place where connections are made with the people who will help thrust you into your call.  It is a place of barrenness and at times loneliness. A place that looks like the end and not the beginning. A place of walking by faith and holding onto the word you were given. A place of receiving a greater anointing and authority.

John Bunyan was "chief among sinners" according to him when he was saved. As a new Christian he was mentored by some poor women in a church who took him under their wing and he also had a mentoring pastor. He lost his wife and pastor at the same time and his grief launched him into preaching.  He was eventually arrested for preaching outside of the declared state church of England and went to prison(his place of hiddenness) for 12 years.  It was while in prison that the one thing John Bunyan would be known for throughout history was created. That was a book called Pilgrims Progress.

Joseph, was given a couple of dreams as a young man telling of his destiny. From the position of the favored child he was thrown into a pit, sold as a slave, taken into the palace, and thrown into prison. In his hidden place he was far from home and far from that original vision. But all this served as a place of preparation to his final arrival into his destiny that would save his people.

Moses was rescued from death and raised in the palace but then ran for his life into the distant mountains. There he was hidden away for 40 years in a strange land caring for his father-in-law's flock.  He did not even have the confidence that he could speak and be understood when his launch into his destiny came.

I have found that while in your cave experience you have to fight to keep your vision. With years of delay you get to the point of what the bible refers to as "hope deferred".  Proverbs 12:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.  We begin to think it was something we imagined and made up by our prideful mind, which then causes hopelessness to creep in.

In an article by Os Hillman, he explains about our cave experience, "However, the way of the cross requires a death process to outcomes, our perceived futures and injustices. It is when we release and die to our own will that we see our destinies resurrected.

Do you find yourself in an isolation chamber? Perhaps you are a change agent in the making. Perhaps there is a deposit God is seeking to make into your life that will be used for many others. If so, let God do the deeper work through this isolation period. Let him temper those things in you that have needed to be tempered. Learn to listen during this time and let God develop intimacy with you by spending focused time of praise, study, prayer and quiet listening."

It is in the Cave of Adullam that songs, books, poems and prophetic words come forth, humility is accomplished, a knowledge of God's goodness and faithfulness is revealed, anointing and authority is increased and divine appointments come seeking you out.  It looks like you have been stripped of your vision and cast aside, but the truth is you have been chosen for a high calling for the kingdom.  It may be uncomely or it may be in a palace.  Either way if you do not give up you will do exploits for the Kingdom of God.