The Path Gets Darker Before It Gets Brighter
You know what nobody tells you about destiny? "God often relocates us downward before He lifts us upward"
After the anointing comes the running. After the moment God says "yes" comes the season where everything says "no." After you feel the oil on your head comes the cave.
David experiences this. One moment, he's the chosen one. Samuel has anointed him. The Spirit has come upon him. He's marked by God. And then the very next season, he's fleeing for his life.
The anointing attracts warfare before it attracts fulfillment.
This is the part of the story they don't put on posters. This is the part that separates people with real faith from people with comfortable theology.
Today, we're going to talk about what happens when the gap doesn't just delay your promotion. When the gap becomes a cave. When the waiting room becomes a place where you're not just waiting, you're hiding.
And we're going to discover something that seems backwards. God uses hidden, uncomfortable seasons to shape the kind of people He can trust with public authority.
FROM ANOINTING TO ISOLATION
The Descent That Precedes the Ascent
Let's trace David's trajectory. It's important to see the full fall.
David starts in the shepherd fields. That's obscurity, yes. But it's safe. It's known. It's his father's land. It's home.
Then Samuel anoints him. And everything explodes.
He gets brought to the royal court. King Saul wants him. David plays music for the king. David becomes Saul's armor bearer. David is in the palace. He's close to power. David is ascending.
But then Saul realizes that David has been anointed to replace him. And Saul tries to kill him. Not once. Repeatedly. With a spear. With soldiers. With manhunts across the wilderness.
So, David flees.
He leaves the palace. He leaves the court. He leaves familiar places. He abandons the trajectory that looked like it was heading toward the throne. And he ends up in a cave. The Cave of Adullam.
Picture this. David goes from the shepherd fields, which are at least open and connected to sunlight, to a dark cave. A cave is damp. It's cold. It echoes. It smells of stone and moisture and decay. It's the opposite of a palace. It's the opposite of a throne room.
God often relocates us downward before He lifts us upward.
This is one of the hardest truths to accept when you're in the cave. You're thinking, "This doesn't feel like preparation. This feels like punishment. This feels like I'm going backwards."
But remember this from Part 1: God is most active when He is silent. He is using the dark to yada you to know you intimately and build a bond that the bright lights of the palace would have prevented. The cave is the ultimate silent season. The only thing you hear are the echoes of your own questions. But God is there in the silence, doing the deepest work.
THE CAVE AND WHAT IT STRIPS AWAY
Understanding Adullam
The name Adullam likely means "place of refuge" or "retreat." But that's almost ironic. Because while Adullam is technically a refuge, it doesn't feel like one.
Caves are dark. Caves are damp. Caves are unsafe. Caves are socially invisible. When you're in a cave, you're not on anyone's radar. You're not trending. You're not building a following. You're not developing influence.
You're just hidden.
And here's what the cave does. The cave strips identity from titles.
In the palace, David had rank. David had a title. David was the king's musician. David was somebody important. David had a resume.
But in the cave, David has none of those things.
No rank. No platform. No recognition. No social media following. No way to announce his greatness. No stage.
When titles disappear, truth appears.
Who are you when nobody is watching? Who are you when there's no applause? Who are you when your only identity is what you are to God, not what you are to the world?
This is what the cave teaches. And it's one of the most important lessons a leader can learn before they lead.
WHO GOD SENDS TO THE CAVE
The Broken People Who Shape Your Leadership
But David is not alone in the cave. And this is where the story gets interesting.
"All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him." (1 Samuel 22:1–2)
Three groups gather to David in the cave.
The distressed. People who are hurting. People who have been wounded by life. People carrying wounds that Saul's kingdom didn't make space for. People who needed a leader who would actually see them.
The indebted. People who owed money they couldn't pay. People who were financially ruined. People with no options. People who had nothing left to lose.
The discontented. People who didn't fit in Saul's kingdom. People who saw the corruption. People who wanted something different. People who were restless for change.
These are not soldiers. These are not impressive warriors. These are broken people.
And here's the leadership insight that changes everything. God doesn't train kings with perfect people. God sends you broken people.
If you can't shepherd wounded people in obscurity, you can't rule whole nations in visibility. If you can't lead people who are falling apart when there's no audience, you can't lead people who are thriving when the lights are on.
David learns patience because the people in the cave need patience. David learns compassion because the people in the cave are suffering. David learns leadership under pressure because these four hundred broken people are depending on him to show them that hope is still possible.
The cave doesn't teach you to lead. The cave teaches you to lead people. And that's completely different.
WHY GOD USES CAVES: Three Essential Lessons Only Caves Can Teach.
First: Caves Strip Identity from Titles
We already covered this. In the cave, David discovers who he is without the trappings of position.
Second: Caves Develop Dependence on God
Look at the Psalms. Many of David's most powerful Psalms were written in cave seasons. Psalm 57 is titled "For the director of music. To the tune of 'Do Not Destroy.' Of David. A miktam. When he had fled from Saul into the cave."
Psalm 142 is titled "A maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer."
Read these Psalms. They're raw. They're honest. They're desperate. They show a man who is completely dependent on God. A man who has nowhere else to turn. A man whose only option is trust.
Caves produce psalms that palaces never could.
The palace produces policies. The cave produces prayers. The palace produces pronouncements. The cave produces psalms. And psalms outlast policies.
Third: Caves Prepare You for People
Here's something most people miss. The men David leads in the cave become his mighty warriors. Look at 2 Samuel 23. These broken men from Adullam become the most legendary warriors in Israel's history.
But that only happens because David led them first when they were broken. David didn't wait for them to become impressive warriors and then learn to lead them. David led them when they were distressed, indebted, and discontented.
God sends broken people to teach future leaders how to heal others.
David's cave experience becomes the foundation for his entire leadership. He becomes a king who understands suffering because he has suffered. He becomes a king who cares for the marginalized because he has been marginalized. He becomes a king who leads with compassion because he has learned compassion from the broken people in the cave.
Why I Know This Isn't Wasted Time
I spent time in a cave. Not a literal cave, obviously. But a cave nonetheless.
There was a season when everything I was building fell apart. My platform shrank. My influence diminished. The people I thought would follow me scattered. The opportunities I thought were coming never materialized. And I found myself leading in obscurity.
I was leading a small group of broken people. People with addiction struggles. People with marriage failures. People with job loss. People with shattered dreams. Not exactly the crowd you dream about when you're imagining your future.
And I'll be honest. I was bitter about it. I was angry. I was thinking, "This isn't what I signed up for. This isn't the stage I was anointed for."
But then I realized something. These broken people were teaching me how to be a leader.
They were teaching me that leadership isn't about impressing people. It's about seeing people. It's about the widow in the corner. It's about the person who feels invisible. It's about the person who thinks nobody cares.
And when that season eventually ended, when I moved into a bigger platform, I realized that the cave had prepared me for it. The obscurity had trained me. The broken people had shaped me.
I would have been a terrible leader without the cave. I would have been arrogant. I would have been disconnected from the struggle. I would have been leading from a platform instead of from a heart.
CONCLUSION: THE CAVE IS NOT THE END
It's Part of the Calling
Here's what I need you to understand as we close this second part.
David didn't escape the cave by force. He outgrew it by faithfulness.
He didn't tunnel out. He didn't organize a rebellion. He didn't stage a coup. He simply led faithfully. He shepherded the broken people. He grew as a person. He matured as a leader. He deepened as a human being.
And when the time was right, when the work was done, when David had become the kind of person who could be trusted with a nation, David left the cave.
God doesn't rush people out of caves. He raises them out when the work is done.
So, if you're in a cave right now, I need you to hear this. Your cave is not rejection. Your cave is not punishment. Your cave is not a waste of time.
Your cave is part of your calling.
The cave is where you're learning to lead without recognition. The cave is where you're developing compassion for broken people. The cave is where you're discovering who you are when nobody is watching. The cave is where you're becoming the kind of person who can be trusted with authority.
Are you interpreting your cave as rejection instead of preparation?
Are you growing bitter or getting better?
Are you still worshipping in hidden places?
Hidden seasons are not wasted seasons. They are the most important seasons.
BRIDGE TO PART 3
The cave teaches patience. But the next lesson is harder.
David must now learn something even more difficult. He must learn how to hold power without abusing it. He must learn how to have opportunity and not take it.
Because while David is in the cave hiding from Saul, something happens. Saul becomes vulnerable. Saul falls asleep. Saul is exposed.
And David's men say, "This is it. This is your moment. Kill him. Take the throne. You've waited long enough."
But David doesn't.
And that refusal to take what he could take, that choice to honor what God has preserved, that willingness to wait even when the door is wide open that's the next test.
BENEDICTION
As you leave this second part, carry this with you.
If you are in a cave right now, know this. You are not being punished. You are being prepared. Your obscurity is not failure. It is formation. Your broken people are not a burden. They are your greatest teachers.
May the God who led David into the cave, who used the darkness to teach light, who sent broken people to shape a future king, lead you through your cave season with purpose.
May He give you the patience to stay until the work is done. May He give you the compassion to lead the broken people around you. May He give you the wisdom to see that your cave is not an interruption to your calling. It is part of your calling.
And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who spent forty days in the wilderness being tested before stepping into His ministry, who understands the cave better than anyone, sustain you until the day you emerge from your darkness, refined and ready to lead.
Go forth into your cave with hope. The darkness is not the end. It is the birthplace of your greatest self.
Amen.
