He was anointed as king, but couldn’t take the throne for about 15 years. King David’s hopes for regrouping God’s people from wicked King Saul had to wait.
More than that, Saul went after him. Chased him. Into caves, where David and his men hid.
David was scared, but not of Saul. He was scared of doing something that God forbid. Namely, fighting Saul and killing him. When his men urged him to do just that, David replied, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord” (1 Samuel 24:6).
Now, that’s integrity. And patience. And trust. Even after Saul had thrown a spear at David’s head and barely missed.
So David was on the run, but he wasn’t so much running away from Saul and he was running toward God. One familiar cave where David retreated as a stronghold was “the cave of Adullam” (2 Samuel 23:13).
In this place, hiding for his life, David discovered what it meant to pursue God. He wanted God’s paths to become clearer than his own direction. He wanted God’s character to shape him more than what everyone else thought he should be like. He wanted God’s mission and calling to consume him more than being consumed by his own comfort.
David pursued God in that cave because that’s the place where God pursued him. Not on the throne, at least in that moment. Not in the palace, not on the battlefield, or football field, or conference room, or on Instagram.
From a cave David wrote these words of prayer to God, “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” (Psalm 142:6,7).
You can pursue God through tears, in desperate times, and when you are being pursued by enemies stronger than you are. You can pursue God when you believe that your dream is just impossible unless God is in it. You can pursue God when you confess your sinful desires, your weak moments, your secret plans to make yourself so strong and wise and popular that you don’t need God.
“Set me free,” from what? “My prison,” that is, the self-induced, small-minded, sin-oriented place where we trap ourselves. We put ourselves in prison, and then we can’t get out.
Confess that, like David did, and then you are pursuing God instead of yourself. Then your prison turns into praising God’s name.
Another cave defined David’s cave. A cave where Jesus’ body would be laid centuries later. A tomb. And Jesus turned that prison of a cave into praise as he rose from the dead, conquering your sins, triumphant over your death, promising a powerful new life to anyone who believes in him.
PRAYER: God, you lead me to the strangest places. Sometimes dark places. Sometimes lonely places. Teach me to believe more confidently and clearly that you are there, and you are pursuing my heart. Lead me, as I pursue yours. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: David wrote three psalms from a cave. Which others besides Psalm 142? Find them and spend 5 minutes using his words of prayer.