To Encourage You

1 Samuel 22:1-2 “David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam.  And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them.”

It is rare that a person finds Christ on the mountaintop.  Interestingly, in the Old Testament, the places where the pagans commonly went to worship were called “high places.”  Apparently, they viewed these places as being closer to their gods.  However, the true God viewed these forms of worship with disgust (Leviticus 26:30).  No, it is typically in the very lowest places where people find the Lord. It’s in the low places that Jesus finds them.  We see a shadow of this truth in the passage above. 

Here we have the account of David, the newly anointed king of Israel, yet a king in exile, fleeing for his life from King Saul, who was currently sitting on the nation of Israel’s throne.  Saul had lived a life of disobeying God and as a result, he had been rejected by God. In his anger and jealousy, he sought to exterminate David.  David fled to the cave of Adullam.  Interestingly, it is there that he gathered his first subjects. And who were they?  As the verses above tell us, they were those who were in distress, or who were in debt, or who were bitter in soul. They were the down and out crowd. They were those who were in great need of one type or another.  In their predicament they turned to one who was like them, one who was likewise in distress, hiding in a cave. Yet, they knew it was this man who was actually God’s anointed king.  It was in a cave, hidden away from the world, that they found one who was like them in that he was touched with the feelings of their own infirmities. He was one who could identify with them. But regardless of how it may have seemed to others, this was the place of God’s chosen king. 

How typical this is of God’s ultimate anointed king, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Like David, this Son of David, “was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 55:3).  Here is one who, though he is the King of kings, remains hidden from the world and despised by it even at this very moment.   Those who are “on top of the world” see no need of Him. Things are going well for them.  They have all they need.  And that’s their greatest problem.  You see, Jesus is found only by those who are in need.  As Jesus told the Pharisees, who, in their pride, questioned why He was eating with the despised “tax collectors and sinners,” “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). And that’s the wonderful message of the gospel.  It is in Jesus that we find One “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8)! He came down to us, way down, down to the very lowest situation in which one could be on this earth, and it is to those who are likewise very low that are the very ones who can find hope in Him.  It is the humbled, those who are at the end of their rope, those who find themselves overwhelmed with anxiety, the crushing guilt because of their sin, and a life of bitterness brought on by sin’s consequences or the consequences of the sins of others who so often find Jesus at this lowest point.  It is there, as they humble themselves at the feet of this One Who humbled Himself like no  one else could, that they find hope. It is as they bow at His feet and acknowledge Him and only Him as their Lord and “commander” that the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3) find the way up. It is there that the believer finds the following paradox to be so true: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).  The way down is the way up. That’s how people find Christ.

So, what about you? Do you find yourself in such a condition of great need? Can you identify with those who came to David in the cave of Adullam?  If so, know that the awesome Son of David will meet you there if you come to Him, for it is He that so wonderfully said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). This “Commander of the Lord’s army” (Joshua 5:14) is always seeking new recruits, and He is looking for them among the very ones who are weary and heavy laden, the ones who the world might reject.  His heart reaches out to the very ones who see themselves as unworthy, the ones who might see themselves as those who are without hope. But it is to these very ones that the King of kings promises “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).” 

Praise the name of our glorious Lord!