Sermon 6 - David The Caveman Series

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.