Title: How To Behave In A Cave – 5
“David’s Cave – Five Keys to Victory – 4”
Text: Psalm 57:1-11
The past few weeks we have been talking about caves. A cave is a type of a dark hour, a struggle, or a serious valley that you are facing. This series has been so powerful to me. It is so encouraging knowing that no matter what cave we are in, God is going to bring us out. Over the next few weeks, as we wrap up this series on “How to Behave in a Cave,” I know that God is going to continue to teach us some principles that we can put into practice to help us come out of our cave victorious. This cave is not meant to last forever, it is just for a season of your life just like it was only for a season in the life of David.
So far we have learned some principles from David to help us know how to behave while in the midst of this cave. This Psalm that we have read for our text was written while David was in the thick of the cave. We know from this text that there are some things that we need to put into practice just as David did in order to come out of our cave victorious.
I. DAVID LEARNED TO TAKE REFUGE IN GOD
Psalm 57:1; ¶ “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.”
David made God his refuge. REFUGE: DEFINITION
1. Shelter or protection from danger and distress
2. A place that provides shelter or protection
3. Something to which one has recourse in difficulty
4. Recourse actually means: A turning to someone or something for help or protection. A source of help or strength.
II. DAVID LEARNED TO CRY OUT TO GOD
Psalm 57:2; “I will cry unto God most high;”
III. DAVID LEARNED TO DECLARE THE PROMISES OF GOD
Psalm 57:2-3; “I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.”
Last week I preached myself happy, reading all the Scriptures concerning God being an ALL-TIME God that does ALL things for us. Once you know the promises of God and begin to stand on them, then no enemy in hell can steal that Word of God from you. Today we are going to finish up on David’s cave.
IV. DAVID LEARNED TO EXPECT VICTORY
Psalm 57:3; “He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.”
Not only did David learn to declare the promises of God when in the midst of his cave, He also expected God to fulfill every one of those promises. He expected God to deliver him. He expected victory.
David said in Psalm 62:5; “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.”
As we learned on Tuesday night, we get what we expect from the Lord. David expected victory over this cave. If you are going to be delivered from this cave, you have to have an expectation for deliverance. It is important during this time to wait upon the Lord and in that waiting time to expect great things.
David knew God was able and willing to deliver him out of the caves in life. Regardless of what his circumstances looked like, David knew God would send forth His mercy and His truth (Word). Truth is a powerful force that God sends to those who make Him their refuge and cry out to Him in faith. Once you know the truth of who God is and what He has said in His Word, that truth will set you free. David was ready and FULLY expecting God to set him free from that cave. There was no doubt in his mind because His expectation was from God.
David understood the protection of God. He understood the truth of who God is and how God was going to treat him. Listen to another Psalm of David:
Psalm 91:1-12; ¶ “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. 9 ¶ Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
Do you see the confidence in that man’s voice? David was a man that understood that God was always his protector. He wasn’t scared of anything, and if fear tried to attack him, once He stepped into some time with God, all that fear was replaced with the confidence of Almighty God.
Look at verse 4 again: “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”
Do you know what a buckler is? I looked it up and discovered that it is similar to the Hebrew word for crocodile skin. A buckler is like armour that covers your entire body. That means that His truth, or His Word, is not just a shield in front of me, but it is a complete body armour that totally surrounds me, reinforces me and it makes it impossible for the enemy to get through my armour. He can’t penetrate it! So when the fiery darts come in the midst of your cave, they just melt off and dissolve because that buckler surrounds me. His Word is a shield to me, but praise God, it is also a buckler.
Have you ever seen a picture of one of those shiny suits of armour standing in the corner of some castle? It almost looks like somebody is in there ready to fight. Even though no one is inside that armour, it is able to stand up on its own because it is so solid and sturdy.
Well, if you could only imagine wearing that kind of protection in the time of battle. It would be pretty hard to be knocked down with one of those things on. The Word of God is a suit of armour more solid and sturdy than any of those you have ever seen with your physical eyes. Even if you feel like fainting because you are so weak you can’t take another step, that armour of God’s Word will hold you up and strengthen you.
We have to expect victory from this cave in order to receive it. My expectation is from Him. When you put faith behind God’s Word, the truth of God’s Word reinforces and strengthens you. The Word will reinforce everything in your life. It is a powerful tool and weapon. When you expect the Word to work, it will. But you must expect it. When you expect to come out of your cave, you will, but you must expect to, just as David did.
Psalm 31:24; “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.”
What does hope mean? Hope means expectation. To the natural mind it seems as though God has this Scripture a little backwards. You almost want to say, “Lord, strengthen my heart, so that I can be of courage and so that I can have hope.” But that is not what this Scripture says. God’s truth says it is the other way around. Be of good courage first, expect to be strengthened first and then He will strengthen your heart. It is so important to get this principle down in your heart. Those that expect nothing, receive nothing. Those that expect great things will receive great things. You cannot be down in the dumps all the time and expect to be lifted up by God Almighty. That is not the way this thing works. That might be why some of you have been in this cave for so long. You just think this is your lot in life. God put you here to suffer, so you just want to fulfill His will for you. In order to come out of the cave, you must expect God to bring you out. Your expectation comes from Him.
So, the fourth thing you need to do while in your cave is to feast upon the Word of God and expect victory. To just declare the promises of God is not quite enough, you must also expect Him to bring those promises to pass in your life.
V. DAVID LEARNED TO PRAISE HIS GOD
Did you know that God set up a system on how to get out of your cave? The system is that you must praise God for the victory even while you are in the cave. He did not say that you should only praise Him when you come out, He says if you want to be truly victorious and the man that He wants you to be then you must praise Him while you are in. That is exactly what David did and that is the final key to David’s victory over his cave. Listen to what David said even while he was still in the cave:
Psalm 57:7, 9, 11; ¶ “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. 9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations. 11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.”
Throughout this Psalm David talks about singing and giving praise to God. The men with David heard him sing every morning whether they wanted to or not. They had to listen to his voice. They heard him sing praise unto God even though the circumstances they were in were really nothing to sing about.
David said, “Oh God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.”
David’s heart was so fixed on God and His promise of protection and deliverance that he couldn’t help but praise Him. And because he learned to give God praise in the middle of his cave, he was able to reveal to the four hundred depressed, discouraged men the God who “performs all things.”
Praise unlocks all of heaven to you. God has things for you that you have never even known and He wants to reveal secrets to you that will pull you out of the cave that you are in and set you free. I don’t know what your situation is or what your cave circumstance is, but I do know that God is good and He will pick you up when you are down. Only God can turn a shepherd boy into a king. Only God can turn a failure into a success. Only God can turn a loser into a winner. One God can show you the way out of your cave.
Remember the lessons that David and his four hundred men learned.
1. Make God your refuge
2. Cry out to God when you are in trouble
3. Declare His promises every day
4. Expect to see victory and deliverance
5. Never forget to give God praise all the time.
That is how you get out of the cave and into victory. If David and the 400 men who followed him into his cave learned to apply these five keys to victory, so can you. When you apply these keys to your circumstances, you are sure to come out of that cave victorious in every part of your life.
