David, the boy who would be king, was taken from the sheep cote, anointed by the prophet Samuel, called to play the harp in King Saul’s court, slayed the giant Goliath, now sits weeping in anguish in a cave in Adullam. Events in the shepherd-boy’s life came too fast; promotion and fame furiously pursued him, there was not much time to think;  to reflect; or to introspect.

His God-given success in the battlefield occasioned his meteoric rise from obscurity to nation-wide popularity.  But his success also caused bitter envy to grow in King Saul’s heart:  King Saul eyed him with suspicion, resenting every thing he said and did for he imagined David conspiring to oust him from the throne.

David was a moving target from then on:  he was kept close to King Saul not because he was loved and valued but because he was an enemy who had to be closely watched.  Saul maneuvered to cause David’s death and failing that, King Saul himself attempted to murder David: he threw a javelin at David while he was playing the harp. His hatred of David was unmistakable.

David ran for refuge to Samuel in Ramah.  But King Saul sent troops to arrest him.  The soldiers began prophesying alongside the prophets under Samuel’s tutelage.  King Saul sent another contingent but they too prophesied and were unable to arrest David.  Finally, King Saul himself came to capture David but King Saul stripped off his clothes, lay down naked before Samuel day and night, unable to resist the moving of the Holy Spirit.  King Saul, too, prophesied.

David escaped.  He was all alone when he arrived in Nob, a city inhabited by the Levites, the priestly tribe of Israel.  When David arrived, he was famished: Ahimelech gave him hallowed bread from the tabernacle. David had no sword: Ahimelech gave him the sword of Goliath.  David needed spiritual guidance: Ahimelech inquired of God for David.

For aiding and abetting David, the enemy of the king, Ahimelech and eighty-four other priests were put to death. All the inhabitants of the city of Nob: men, women, children, infants, even the oxen, sheep and horses were also killed en masse.

David was aghast: he was horrified.  The genocide at Nob was all his fault.  The massacre of Ahimelech and the Levites was his fault.  He was responsible for their deaths.

Unbearable guilt and fear for his own life and his family’s compelled David to escape from Judah. In his desperation, he took his family and hid them in Moab.  Moab is the hometown of David’s great-grandmother, Ruth.  After he hid his family in Moab, he was captured by the troops of Achish, king of Gath.  To escape Achish’s vengeance for Goliath’s death (Goliath was a native of Gath, a city of the Philistines), David had to feign madness.

Can we still wonder why David was “distressed” in the cave in Adullam?  The word “distressed” here means “to be in a tight spot.”  David was indeed in a tight spot, he had painted himself into a corner, he had nowhere to go, no one to turn to.  All he could do was sit in a cave.

How can a person such as David, who was chosen by God to be king, find himself miserable, hiding in a cave?  David was following God’s will in his life, wasn’t he?  Why then was he in dire straits?

Following God does not give us free tickets to a  problem-free and stress-free life.  Vowing to follow God’s perfect will in our lives does not give us an exemption from difficulties.  Zeal in fulfilling God’s will in our lives does not give us immunity from adversity.

Quite the opposite occurs, actually: it is when we decide to obey God that the rug is pulled out from under us, our lives are up-ended and we are on the floor weeping in frustration and in complete consternation. Charles Haddon Spurgeon ( Expository Sermons) says it best:  “…whenever God means to make a man great, he breaks him to pieces first.”

Spurgeon goes on to say that “whenever God is going to give you an enlargement, and bring you to a larger sphere of service, or a higher platform of spiritual life, you always get thrown down.”

And David was indeed thrown down:  David fell headlong into sin.  David lied to Ahimelech.  He told Ahimelech that he was on the King’s business when all the while, David was already on the run from Saul.  David obtained Ahimelech’s assistance on false pretenses and that cost Ahimelech his life.

David was thrown down: David fell headlong into compromise. David went back and hid his family in Moab.  Ruth, his grandmother, left Moab as a sign of her repentance from idolatry and her faith in the God of Israel.  David went back to Moab, that place of idolatry that his great-grandmother had forsaken by faith.

David was thrown down: David fell headlong into disgrace and humiliation.  The shame David heaped upon the Philistines when he defeated their champion was reciprocated.  It was incredibly ironic that David was captured by the very nation that he had once defeated. And in order to escape imprisonment, he had to pretend that he had lost his mind.

Spurgeon says: God “makes nothing of you before He makes something of you.”  David had to learn humility and deep dependence upon God.  David had to learn that even though God had revealed to him that he would be king, it was God’s choice when and how he would be king.  David had to be brought to the end of his self-sufficiency.  He had to stop trusting himself, and learn that he was completely undeserving of the favor of God.

Apostle Paul also learned this lesson well for he said:  “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.” There is no question that David’s victory came from God.  David knew that.  But perhaps David was beginning to believe that God chose him particularly because of something commendable in his character or person. He was beginning to think that God’s call was because of something he can do for God.

This was not so. God gave David power and victory because God was working his own will.  God did not choose David because he was a cut above all the rest, because he was smarter, stronger, or that he had more faith, or that he was more prayerful.  God chose David not because of anything commendable about David, God chose David because God chose to perform his will.

Often, we imagine that God saved us and sanctified us because he wants us to do great things for him.  In truth, God saved us and sanctified us because it is what God has promised to do.  We say we want to do God’s will, but in truth, we want to do great things for ourselves.  We convince ourselves that God has called us for a specific task or work.  But while we maintain our own agenda and our own goals, we cannot seek God’s interests.  We have to learn to give up our personal plans and our personal imaginings of what God would have us do, even when our plans and imaginings consist of how we intend to fulfill God’s will in our lives.  We have to surrender all that, too, in order that we may be brought in line with God’s will.

We are not outstanding human beings called upon by God to do extraordinary feats.  Often we are ordinary people who only accomplish great things because of the extraordinary purpose of God.  David did become king.  But how and when he became king was all up to God.

David was not called “a man after God’s own heart” for nothing.  God’s lessons were not lost on David.  Psalm 57:2 gives us a hint of the lesson David learned.  He said, “I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.”  Clearly, he had learned that it is God who works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure.  It is God, who began a good work in David’s life and it will be God who will fulfill it.

This is the way God works:  David must go to the throne by way of the cave.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God himself, had to go to the throne by way of the cross.  This is the paradox of the christian life.