Introduction:
A. Today, we are going to talk about “David the Caveman” which caused me to think about the Geico insurance advertising campaign from the early 2000s.
1. The campaign was designed to show that switching to Geico insurance is so easy, even a caveman could do it.
2. The campaign featured a caveman in modern settings who was so insulted by the adds – they always made me chuckle.
B. Before we get into the story of David, here’s a riddle for you: What do you call a wandering caveman? Answer: a meanderthal – not neanderthal.
C. David was meandering and as we will see today, he sought refuge in a cave and that’s why I am referring to him as David the caveman.
1. Last week when we left David, he was acting as a madman with saliva dribbling down his beard in order to protect himself in an enemy nation.
2. So, David feigned insanity and then slipped out of the city of Gath.
3. Once more he was a man on the run.
I. The Story:
A. The Bible says: David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. (1 Sam. 22:1a)
1. David had now left the land of the Philistines and had returned to his native land of Judah.
2. The exact location of this cave has been disputed by scholars, but it may very well have been one of the desert hideouts not far from Bethlehem, which David would have been familiar with from his days as a lonely shepherd boy.
3. You can see in this picture how rough and rocky that region is and what a good hideout it would make.
4. This must have been the lowest moment of David’s life to date.
5. He was hiding in a cave all alone without security and without food.
6. He was away from everything and everyone he loved – that is everyone except God.
B. And if we want to know how David really felt, all we have to do is read the Psalms he composed during this period.
1. Psalm 142 is one of those Psalms, let’s look at it again:
“I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy.
I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.
When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way.
In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me.
Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.
I cry to you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’
Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.”
2. As David cried out to the Lord, he said things like: “I don’t know of a soul on earth who cares for my soul. I am in desperate need. My enemies are too strong for me.”
3. Can you feel the loneliness of that desolate spot?
4. Can you feel the darkness and dampness of that cave?
5. Can you feel David’s despair?
C. Yet in the midst of all that, David did not lose sight of his God.
1. He cried out to the Lord for deliverance, so that he might praise the Lord and be a leader of the righteous.
2. God knew this part of David’s heart and faith and it was what caused God to choose him and call him a man after God’s own heart.
3. David had been brought to this place where God could truly begin to shape him and use him.
4. When our God brings us to the bottom, to a place of nothing, it is not to destroy us, but to rebuild us.
D. Look at what happened next – look who God brought to David.
1. The Bible says: When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. (1 Sam. 22:1b)
2. This was the same family that had not been all that good to David along the way.
3. His dad had almost forgotten that he existed when Samuel came to the house looking for candidates for the next king.
4. And later when his father sent him to the battlefield to check on his brothers, his brothers reacted very negatively toward him and accused him of having a wicked and selfish heart.
5. I don’t know if David wanted to see his family at that point or not, but there they were anyhow.
E. So what did David do? He rose to the occasion.
1. He showed a measure of his unusual discretion and love by making the decision to move his family to a place of safety.
2. The Bible says: From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?” So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold. (1 Sam. 22:3-4)
3. Knowing that his family would be in danger because of Saul’s hatred of David, he swiftly took everyone to Moab, a region east of the Dead Sea, out of the land of Israel. (notice the location)
4. Interestingly, Moab was the region from which his ancient roots had come.
5. Ruth, the remarkable Moabite widow, who married Boaz, was his great, great-grandmother.
6. In Moab, David made arrangements for his parents to take refuge in comparative safety.
7. If Saul, in his madness wanted to try to get to David through David’s family, he would have to go all the way to Moab to try to do so.
F. But David’s family wasn’t the only group that God sent to David there in the cave.
1. The Bible says: All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him. (1 Sam. 22:2)
2. What a motley crew this was! (Show picture – I wonder if they looked like this group?)
3. All those who were in distress came.
a. The Hebrew word means “distressed, under pressure, under stress.”
b. So here came hundreds of people who were stressed out.
4. With them came those who were in debt.
a. These were the people who couldn’t pay their bills.
5. And with them came those who were discontented.
a. The Hebrew word means “to be in bitterness of soul, to have been wronged or mistreated.”
6. How did these folks get so distressed, indebted and discontented? The answer is – King Saul.
7. Long before Saul had been anointed king, Samuel the prophet had warned them about the oppression the new monarch would bring.
8. The people were really suffering under the Saul’s rule.
G. How do you think David felt about this group?
1. I doubt that this is the kind of support group he was looking for! Right?
2. Why would God send a group like this to David?
3. I think that there were several things going on here.
H. First of all, I think God was preparing David to lead the nation.
1. David went to the cave to hide, but God saw it differently.
2. Believe it or not, that dark, dank cave became a place of training for those who were the beginning of the army that would later be called “David’s mighty men of valor.”
3. That group was destined to win the greatest victories that the people of God ever enjoyed.
4. That motley crew became David’s mighty men in battle, and his cabinet when he took office.
5. David rallied this group of disgruntled, desperate people and taught them discipline and character and gave them direction.
6. David taught them God’s truths, like this one that he wrote in Psalm 34:15-19,
“The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;
the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from
the earth.
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;”
I. Second, in addition to learning leadership, I believe David was learning compassion.
1. Amid his exile and his grief, and amid his distressed comrades, David was learning firsthand the frustration and anguish of the oppressed.
2. David was developing an enormous empathy for the underprivileged of his people.
3. When he became their king, he would never be immune to the suffering of his subjects.
4. It’s so important for all of us to learn to be compassionate, but it is especially important for leaders to learn compassion! Amen?
J. A third thing I think was happening during this period was the binding of the hearts of the people to David.
1. This motley crew was developing a deep love for David and an incredible sense of loyalty.
2. No king had ever been put through what David was about to be put through, but in the midst of it David was honorable and selfless and those around him respected his example.
3. Those men developed such a commitment to David that his wish is their command.
4. In a future story, David was longing for water from a certain well near the gate of Bethlehem, and three of his men fought their way through the Philistine army to get David water from that well. (2 Sam. 23) – how’s that for loyalty?
5. In the end, David became the most beloved ruler ever to reign in Israel, because he knew what it was like to be the underdog, and to suffer among the poor and the oppressed.
K. Scripture tells us of one final development in today’s story.
1. The Bible says: But the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth. (1 Sam. 22:5)
2. The mention of the prophet Gad is significant – most individuals did not have their own prophet.
3. Even though David was in exile, he was the Lord’s chosen future king, and God was directing his steps.
4. I think that there is a contrast to take note of – Saul had lost all prophetic support, but David already had a prophet to advise him.
5. It took faith for David to obey the voice of the prophet Gad and to leave the stronghold of security.
6. But because of David’s prompt compliance with the will of God, his life would be spared, as well as those of his men.
7. Unfortunately, others were destined to be less fortunate and fall under the mad fury of Saul’s cruel, avenging temper.
8. As the rest of chapter 22 reveals, in his bitter anger Saul went to the region where David had been and annihilated innocent priests, women, children, infants, and animals.
9. Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech the priest was the only who escaped and survived, and when he went to David, David invited him to join his gang for protection.
II. The Application:
A. What lessons can we learn from “David The Caveman” to help us in our lives?
1. Let me suggest two.
B. First, when we face our most difficult circumstances, we should cry out to the Lord and then do whatever God tells us to do.
1. That’s what David did - He cried out to God, and then he did whatever God gave him to do.
a. David didn’t turn away from God in the midst of his trouble, rather he turned to God.
b. And when he turned to God, he cried out and was honest with God about how he felt about the situation.
c. Whatever it is that we are experiencing, we can be honest with God about how we feel about it.
d. God hears and honors such vulnerability - we don’t need to fake anything with God.
e. I get so tired of the false Christian notion that is so often promoted today that says that the Christian life is just one silver-lined cloud after another and that Christians always have to be positive and wear a smile.
f. That’s not the truth, and that’s not reality.
g. Sometimes the Christian life includes a deep, dark cave.
h. Sometimes, we, Christians find ourselves in the pit of pain and despair.
i. When we find ourselves in that kind of place, we can be honest with God about our situations and feelings and we can be honest with each other about it as well.
j. That’s what David did and said - Remember Psalm 142:1-3?
“I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy.
I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.
When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way.”
2. The other thing that David did was he busied himself with the Lord’s assignment.
a. No matter where we are and no matter what is happening, God has an assignment for us.
b. We simply need to respond to the Lord by doing the job He has assigned.
c. When David was led to the cave, he had no idea what jobs God was about to assign, but then it became obvious.
d. First, God sent David his family whom he needed to take to a place of protection.
e. Then God sent David a motley crew of 400 difficult, distressed folks.
1. What was he supposed to do for them? He was supposed to minister to them, to give them direction, and to train them for the future.
f. David easily could have shirked these assignments.
1. He could have been so caught up in himself and his own frustrations, that he missed God’s opportunities and assignments.
2. He could have said, “No, I want things my way and I’m not going to serve you until they are.”
3. So, David is a great example about what to do when we find ourselves in difficult situations.
4. In the midst of whatever is happening, we should be sure to stay honestly connected with God, and we should look for the opportunities that God is giving us to serve.
5. Therefore, we will not only be blessed in the midst of the situation, but we will also be a blessing to others.
C. The other lesson I want us to be reminded of is that the ongoing mission of the church is to be a place of refuge and transformation and belonging.
1. The group that God sent to David was a bunch of struggling and lost souls who needed a place of refuge and transformation.
a. David became the agent and example for God’s work in their lives.
2. When Jesus came to provide the way of salvation and to develop those who would lead the church in the future, He gathered a motley crew of malcontents and sinners, just like us.
a. His apostles were an interesting assortment of people – some were even natural enemies.
b. And think of the kind of people who were attracted to Jesus during His ministry – they were the sinners and the outcasts of society.
3. But guess what? Those tend to still be the kind of people who are more likely to be open to the message of Christ today.
a. Those who were powerful and viewed themselves as complete were not the ones who came to Jesus, and they still don’t.
4. But look at what Jesus did with his band of uneducated, common, outcast individuals – He created a community of love and truth that changed the world.
a. And that continues to be the will of God for the church – to create a caring community of love and truth that changes the world – one person at a time.
5. People who are physically, emotionally or spiritually in distress, debt or discontented don’t need a group of critics.
a. They don’t need more guilt or more piled-on distress – no they are hurting enough already.
b. What they need is a safe and secure environment.
c. They need a place of encouragement, a refuge, a place to hide and to heal.
d. That’s who God is, and that’s what God’s people should be.
6. God is our refuge, our shelter, our Mighty Rock, our Fortress, our Stronghold, our High Tower.
a. And with God as our refuge, we become a community of refuge, a community of belonging and a community of transformation.
b. Ultimately, the church isn’t a museum for good people, but a hospital for the broken.
D. Let me end with this quote from the book Edge of Adventure, by Keith Miller and Bruce Larson: “The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give his church. It’s an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality, but it is a permissive, accepting, and inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable. It is democratic. You can tell people secrets and they usually don’t tell others or even want to. The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers.
With all my heart I believe that Christ wants his church to be unshockable, democratic, permissive – a fellowship where people can come in and say, ‘I’m sunk!’ ‘I’m beat!’ ‘I’ve had it!’ Alcoholics Anonymous has this quality. Our churches too often miss it.”
E. So, God wants our church family to become that kind of people and that kind of place.
1. Let’s be sure that we know and experience God as our refuge and strength.
2. Let’s run to Him with honesty and vulnerability.
3. And then let’s continue to create a community of help and healing - a place for real people with real problems and real pain.
4. Then like David we can say, “Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name.”
Resources:
David – A Man of Passion and Destiny, by Charles R. Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1997.
David I, by W. Phillip Keller, Word Books, 1985.
The Making of a Man of God, by Alan Redpath, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1962.
I and II Samuel, David F. Payne, The Daily Study Bible Series, Westminster Press, 1982
First and Second Samuel, J. Carl Laney, Everyman’s Bible Commentary, Moody Bible Institute, 1982.
