LIVING WITH THE BATS
Psalms 142:1-7, "
As I was reading these verses I was reminded that some years ago we made a trip out to New Mexico and visited the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The caverns are part of a huge complex of caves going deep into the earth’s crust with the deepest cave being some 1567 feet below the surface. The legend goes that these caves were discovered when a man by the name of Jim Smith was riding his horse across the desert just before dark when he saw a cloud of smoke billowing from the ground so he followed the smoke hoping to find someone to talk to and perhaps a warm meal or some coffee. What he discovered was that the smoke wasn’t really smoke. It was long cloud of bats flying out of the entrance to an underground cave. That cloud of bats can still be seen every day as they fly out near dusk and return at dawn.
Let us now turn our attention to the circumstances where David finds himself in Psalms 142.
David was on the run from King Saul. He was running for his very life. Saul had attempted to kill David and he was relentlessly pursuing David through the backcountry of Israel.
David had headed south away from the Palace of Saul and came to a place called Nob and there he met Ahimelech the priest. Nob was the location of the Tabernacle of Moses at this time. It was a small town not far from Jerusalem and it was also the place where the school of the priests was located who were in training for service in the Tabernacle of Moses. There was no reason for any of the priests or their families to have weapons and so when David asked if any could be had, the only sword around was the one that David had used to kill Goliath.
David took Goliath’s sword, strapped it to his side and off he went, still on the run from Saul’s army, traveling until he came to the city of Gath.
Do you remember the significance of Gath? It was the hometown of Goliath. Goliath had been the town hero and the champion of his people. David had killed Goliath with his own sword and now he entered into town, trying to be inconspicuous, trying to find a hiding place from Saul. It had been many years since Goliath’s death so he didn’t think anyone would recognize him.
But what he didn’t count on was that every child, born in the city of Gath, had been told the story of David and Goliath. I’m sure that paintings and drawings of Goliath were still in many of their homes, so it wasn’t hard for them to recognize Goliath’s sword that they had seen so many times. It was sword like no other. It was probably oversized to match Goliath’s size. After all, Goliath was nearly 10 ft tall. An ordinary sword would have felt like a dagger in Goliath’s hand.
The people of Gath recognized David and began to pretend that he was a crazy man, leaning against the doors of the city, slobbering all over himself and flailing his limbs in every direction.
Here was the man that is described as a man after God’s own heart, lying to the priests so that they would give him a sword and provisions, taking the national treasures of Israel’s victory over Goliath, running to the very home of his enemies, running from Saul for his life in fear, and now acting like a crazy man. What a contrast we see in David’s life, from a deceptive, fearful, lying crazy man to the sweet singer of Israel as its king!
King Achish of Gath didn’t want anything to do with this crazy man, it didn’t matter who David was. So David left Gath and fled again, deeper into the desert country, away from Saul’s ever pursuing army.
That’s when David had reached the low point of his life and found refuge in the Cave of Adullam. Along with him came a lot of people who came with him for they had no one else to turn to.
That’s when David began to sing the song that we read at the beginning.
Psalms 142:2, " I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble."
David went before the Lord with his pity party. The one thing I can say for David, and the thing that would allow God to call him a man after God’s own heart, was the fact that David would always look to God, even in the worst times of his life.
David was in the Cave of Adullam, along with all the bats! Wherever there is a dark cave for them to hide from the light and stay in the dark, the bats will be there. But there weren’t just the winged mammals that we call bats, I believe that there were “bats” there who walked around on two legs. They didn’t look like the real bats but they acted much the same way.
David was in trouble. He was depressed, so much so that in verse 6 of Psalms 142, David says, “I am brought very low.” In other words, his life was so depressing that only a cave, under the surface, surrounded by damp, cold stone, and other depressed people, could correctly represent just how low he felt.
Have you ever been to that place where you were that depressed? Have you ever wondered if that depression would ever go away? I believe that all of us can identify with how David felt that day. All of us have gone through periods of deep depression, or we will face depression in the days to come, or just maybe you are in that depressed condition right now. It’s as though the weight of the whole world is upon you and no one cares but God and you can’t seem to get through to him.
The one thing you don’t need in times of depression is to have a lot of other depressed people hanging around you. Most of us would rather be alone. Either that or we would hope that those who come around would be cheerful, hopeful and help us overcome our depression.
But that’s who was with David in the cave of Adullam; a lot of other depressed and oppressed people. Look at how they are described in 1 Samuel 22:2, "And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men."
Here was David, already in a depressed state of mind and spirit, and now he was hanging out with 400 men, all of them were hanging around in the cave like a bunch of bats, hiding in the dark.
I wonder what circumstances in life had brought those 400 men to be in the cave with David?
I wonder how many had bad attitudes, bad habits, or some other kinds of problems that brought trouble into their lives and eventually drove them into depression and the rejection of society?
In the beginning of this message I spoke concerning the bats of Carlsbad Caverns. I did a little research and I have discovered that there is an uncanny resemblance to the bats of Carlsbad and perhaps the “two-legged bats” of Adullam. I don’t know about you, but if I was in a cave and the bats were flying around, I wouldn’t want to hang around. Bats carry rabies and some will even cut you and then lick the blood from the wounds they make.
I want to point out a few of the different species of bats and use their names to see if you might have seen some “two legged bats” like these too.
Free-tailed Bats – two legged bats like these are the type that are foot-loose and free. They don’t like anyone telling them what to do, when to do it, or how to do it. They like their freedom and hate any kind of established laws, or outside control. They get into every kind of mischief and eventually become unacceptable members of society. That rejection drives them into depression and then life becomes a big vicious downward spiraling circle.
They go from being rejected to getting depressed to acting even worse to more rejection to more depression and on it goes.
I wonder how many of David’s companions were in the Cave of Adullam because they acted like Free-tailed Bats?
Ghost-faced Bats – two legged bats like these go around with a long face all the time and many of them are hypochondriacs. They always have an ashen look about them and attempt to gain sympathy and pity by always being down in the mount and feeling ill. Most of the time their illness is due to their own making. If you think you are sick long enough you will become sick for real.
Who likes to hang around with people who are always complaining, who never see the bright side of anything, or who always expect the worst?
I wonder how many of those people in the Cave of Adullam were there, in that depressed condition because of the negative outlook that they had? They looked like a bunch of Ghost-faced Bats.
Then there were the Long-nosed, or Long Tongued, or Big-eared Bats. I know that you have seen some of these two legged bats hanging around. They are everywhere!
The Long-nosed bats are always butting in to everyone’s business, sticking their nose in where they shouldn’t.
The Long-tongued bats are gossipers who love to wag their tongues and carry tales. Whether those tales are true or not doesn’t matter, just so they have something, or someone to talk about with their other batty friends.
Then there are the Big-eared bats who hang around just to hear bad news so they can go repeat it. They are all ears when it comes to bad news but they stop up their ears when anyone tries to bring good news or tries to tell them to mind their own business.
Now one likes to hang around people who act like that and so, they too become outcasts and rejects of the socially acceptable and run to the caves of depression to lick one another’s wounds.
I can guarantee that there were a lot of these “bats” hanging around in the Cave of Adullam with David.
There a few other bats that I thought were good examples as well.
Take the Silver-haired bat for instance. These are the old bats, men or women, who hang around the church, or who hang around whatever is going on, with only one thing on their mind – to take control and force everyone to do what they “know” is right because it has been done that way “forever”.
No one wants to have them around because they never let you have any fun, and so, these silver-haired bats go into a deep depression because they think that no one loves them and appreciates them.
The last type of bat that I want to talk about is the Vampire Bat. Vampire bats do not bite into an artery and suck the blood out like we hear about all the time. They cut or scratch their victims and then lick off the blood. Either way, they can be deadly.
How many two legged vampire bats have you seen? They are the people who will take the life out of anything. If you try to do a work for the Lord, they will throw a wet blanket on your dreams and tell you that you can’t do it. If you try to get a better job, they will tell you that you just better be happy with the one you have. No matter what goes on, they suck the life out of it through their negativity.
I don’t like hanging out with negative people. I like people who have a dream, have a vision and are looking for the best in everything. Life is just too short and too important to spend it thinking about the worst of everything all the time.
I can imagine that there were a few of these “bats” hanging out around David too. It’s no wonder that David was driven to the depths of depression with all these bats hanging out and circling around him. It was bad enough for him to be in depression already without these people adding to his troubles.
The last two things that I want to say about bats are these:
Although the bat is not blind, its eyes are best adapted to seeing in the dark - like bats, most of the people that I have just described love to dwell on the dark side. Whenever things are looking bright for everyone else, they retreat into their own dark shell where the light can’t reach them.
If you want to come out of depression, you have to get out of the shadows and start looking toward the Son – the Son of God.
Another thing about bats is that they can only see in black-and-white. So many people, when they get into a state of depression can’t see how it will ever end and so they give up under the circumstances and dwell in that low state for a while.
We must live by the eyes of faith that can see far above where we are now. We must see with the eyes of the Spirit to know that all things will work out to our good.
We have to lift up our eyes to the hills, look up to Jesus and force ourselves to trust and believe in Him and remember that, “this too shall pass.”
And so we see David, in depression, surrounded by bats, both winged and those with two legs. It is at this point that David begins to sing his song to God in the form of a Maschil (pronounced “mas keel”) – a prayer that David prayed as a form of instruction. It is called a “Didactic poem or prayer”. In Greek, that word “Didactic” means “to teach” and so this prayer and poem of David is given in Psalms to teach God’s precepts and it contains doctrines, principles or rules that we should learn and live by; and it is intended to instruct us in the ways of the Lord.
David, by example, is teaching us how to get into a depression, stay in a depression and then, finally, how to come out of a depression. He looked around and there was no man to care and no man to help him. He felt alone in the crowd and helpless. There was only one way to look to get out of that cave.
Psalms 142:5-7, "I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me."
David cried out God for mercy, for grace and for deliverance. God is our only refuge. God is our only source of victory and life. God is stronger than our depression and our circumstances. He only is able to deliver us from our prison of depression.
You can come out of your depression just like David by praising the Lord in the midst of that depression. God’s righteousness still rests upon you and God will set you free.
Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
