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DAV-09

DAVID – Even the mention calls such valued thoughts to mind:

  • Warrior
  • Poet
  • Musician
  • Father
  • King
  • Shepherd
  • Outdoorsman
  • Sinner
  • Saint

We see David most clearly when we view Him through the eyes of our God.

1. In I Samuel 17 we see him Standing Alone Before God. Because he had an unchanging concern for God’s name.

2. In Psalm 59 we see him depending on God because an unshakable trust that God was protecting Him.

3. In Psalm 34 we see him magnifying God because of an unwavering awareness. God was watching him

4. In Psalm 142 we see him calling on God because of an unmistakable hope God was hearing. – David stood for God because he was concerned for God’s name. – David depended on God because he trusted God ‘s caring. – David magnified God because he acknowledged God watching. – David called on God because he hoped God was hearing.

Now the scene is the cave part two….look at 1 Samuel 22:1-2

– David running for his life – David harboring his family – David hosting the malcontents

Remember—

1. Cave times usually follow times of great victories – Goliath / Battle alone – Saul / Assassination – Achish/ Enemy warriors

2. Usually are accompanied by great distress – Psalm 142:3 overwhelmed spirit / traps – Psalm 142:4 no one cares / no escape

3. Cave times can lead to great discoveries about God! – Psalm 142: 5 Refuge – portion…

Now to the conclusion as the caveman confesses the end result of acting upon these great discoveries about God:

1. v.1a – God is Gracious Look to Exodus 33:12 – 34:6 God is gracious to even save us So sinful…

2. v.1b – God is Refuge He said it is Psalm 142:5 He says it here… Look at Psalm 91 God is our shelter, protection, covering and shade The cross is our safe harbor Hebrews 6:19 – anchored!

3. v.2 – God accomplishes Interlude – enemy without because enemy within v. 4/6 Solution – v.5 focus on God v.6 God saves

4. v.7a – God Establishes See Psalm 40 5x He…. Inclined to me, heard my cry, brought me up Set my feet Put a new song

5. v.7b – God makes us praise through sorrow

6. v.8-9 – God makes us thankful

7. v.9b – God opens an audience to us…

8. v. 10 – God is loyal Lamentations 3 – mercies fail not

9. v.11 – God uses adoring His name to pull us out of the cave to Him!

His faithfulness because we belong to Him and He’s going to send His lovingkindness and His truth. What a blessing to know that when we’re getting trampled on that God is there. He is accomplishing His purpose in us. He is sending from Heaven, He is saving us. But now look at verse 4 because we go into something that I think is fascinating and maybe it will be very timely for us right now as some of the troubled hearts need to realize verses 4, 5 and 6 what they’re talking about because here’s David who fled to this cave to get away from Saul and all the armies of Israel that were searching around trying to get him— he’s running from the Philistines and he comes there and all these people say we’re coming here with you. You’re our captain, David. You’re our leader, you’re our brother, our son—- there were all types of family relationships because his family came and also all these discontents and malcontents and indebted people and they’ve all huddled in this cave and now David gives us a brief insight into what it’s like inside the family. All these people were supposed to be together, they’re following him, he’s their leader and look what he says because here’s what the other cave men are doing. Here God is refining David— David’s running for his life—-these people look to him for leadership and while he’s trying lead them look at what they’re doing to him in the cave in verse 4.

My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, -it doesn’t sound very pleasant in the cave, does it? even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. He says there’s a little interlude in his reflections on God and he says you know there’s an enemy without but he said there’s also an enemy within because in the hard times some of them weren’t responding directly and they were coming like predators on him— they were like lions. Those that he was laying among as he lived in the cave were breathing forth fire. It reminds me a little bit of James 3 who says that the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue can set on fire the course of nature and sometimes that tongue is set on fire of hell. Therewith bless we God even the Father and therewith curse we men which were made after the image of God. Behold how great a matter a little fire can kindle— James reminds us and he says here David echoes that he says our tongues are a sharp sword. What does he do in the midst of that? Does he go and knock their teeth out? Does he throw them out of the cave? No—what does he do in verse 5? He just takes his focus and he goes like this, looks up and I guess that’s one way to deal with it. You see our focus is to be on God and if we find difficulties we already know the test. It says in 1 John 4 we are to test the spirits and I would just share with you—–here’s a personal note of being exalted above the Heavens O God, let thy glory be above all the earth. Well then he goes back to his woes in verse 6: They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They dug a pit before me; But here comes God saving him again in verse 6– They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah. And something very important for us to remember is when God is in control that even the devices prepared by men—–nets for our steps—-pit for our souls— God will overturn and He will bring forth in righteousness His Word and His people. Now look at verse 7 because we come now to the 4th of David’s discoveries about God. We already saw that God was gracious, God was a refuge, God would accomplish deliverance—he hoped in that but now verse 7 notice the emphasis again: My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; He says here that God establishes—– you don’t need to turn there but whenever you think of God establishing you think of the 40th Psalm as he said You have taken me out of the miry clay and put me on a rock. That is establishing— salvation is when God digs us out of the miry clay and puts us on the rock, Christ Jesus. He said God- My heart is steadfast- You have established me. The end of verse 7: I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! You know what he says he discovered about God? That God makes us to praise through sorrow. Spurgeon said that some people owe the great beauty of their lives to the extreme difficulties that they’ve come through. I’ve told you before he’s one of the men I’d love to learn about— the Prince of Preachers in the English language was one of the most depressed men you ever had seen. He used to have to go to the seacoast just to recover enough strength to go back and face the congregation again and his wife used to have to practically drag him because he was such a melancholic man and yet he learned that out of his sorrow and out of his grief as David said in Psalm 57:7 the second half- I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! And David said out of the cave, out of the distress, outside the cave, inside the cave, in my very soul he says I will sing praises to You.

Look at verse 8: Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! He’s thinking about the days he used to be on the hillsides. He thinks about when he used to be a shepherd– I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; He said God makes me thankful. That’s why we can smile in sorrow. That’s why we can be joyful and not melancholy and sad because God makes us thankful. He makes us thankful that he is working all things together for good but the second part of 9 we find another one because the God who is gracious, the God who is the refuge, the God who is accomplishing deliverance, the God who had established him and made him steadfast and the God who made him praise through sorrow not only made him thankful but he give him an audience. Look at the end of verse 9:

I will sing praises to You among the nations. Now that’s hilarious to think of. This guy in the Judean wilderness, in a cave with 400 malcontents is going to sing praises to the nations? You see he got a perspective here. Here he is off in the corner running for his life and he said I’m starting to get the big picture. God, you’re running me through the wringer so that I can sing praises on God’s behalf to the nations, among the people– I will sing praises to You among the nations. And God opens an audience for him and you know who the nations are at this very moment? US— you are right now reaping the benefit of David’s cave times. That was 3000 years ago he wrote this down and tonight we can reap the rewards.

Well quickly the last couple—verse 10: For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds. You know what he said? You’re loyal God. You’re loyal to me. You’re lovingkindness, You’re loving loyalty is at a high degree in my life and he said it’s to the Heavens. We can immediately think of Jeremiah who said that Your loving kindnesses never fail, great is Thy faithfulness. Even that great hymn of the Church as Jeremiah is lamenting over the destruction of Jerusalem—overwhelmed—it’s a mine field out there. But he says right here they Lord’s going to provide what I need. He said I’m going to be vindicated. He said the Lord will provide the righteous to surround me.

And the last one—here’s the last line of this Psalm: (142) he said: For You will deal bountifully with me.” You know you can almost see him walking out the door of the cave with all the background sounds and smells and he’s talking out loud and he is kind of discovering and he says Lord, You’re my refuge not this cave. Lord You’re my portion, not that crew that’s behind me. You can just see kind of the sun dawning as he comes out of the shadows of that experience. He said Lord You’re listening to me even if nobody else will. Lord You’re delivering me even when it looks hopeless. Lord You’re the object of my worship, not myself because sometimes our worries are when we meditate on our problems instead of meditating on the One who can provide the solution. Don’t worry, don’t meditate on your problems— look at your Deliverer and make Him the object of our worship. You’re going to provide. Lord You’re sufficient.

Well the Scriptures teach us that cave times usually follow great victories and that’s what happened in David’s life. They’re usually accompanied by great distress but if we’ll let them, they will accomplish great discoveries about God. But here’s the last thing and this is what I don’t want you to forget when you leave here. This is not a down, this is an up message. They usually precede great blessing. Did you get that? If you are in a cave and if you are in a time of distress, If that time will just force the focus to go up and out of my self and ourselves and on to our great Provider and Deliver then great blessings are ahead. Like what David?? Well in the weeks ahead we are gong to see as David left this cave and was vindicated as a righteous man by God. Davis left this cave and was facing the coronation as the king of all of God’s people. He was the great portrait of the coming Messiah as he reigned as king. He left that cave to an exaltation as an invincible warrior, as no one stood before his armies. Unscathed he delivered the people of God from the enemies of God and he was unparalleled as a Psalmist recording that.

Well let’s wait until next week and look at Psalm 57 but I want to ask you tonight how is your world? Is it caving in? Are things coming in on you? Well look through that situation and find God is your refuge, as your portion; as the One who listens, who delivers, who is our object of worship, who can provide every thing we need according to His abundant riches so that we can find Him to be sufficient.

 

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