Michael Youssef - Lessons from a Cave
Today, I'm gonna show you proof, evidence of David's emerging from the cave of Adullam turned into a prayer closet. He emerges, giving us evidence, giving us proof that in that prayer closet, in that cave of Adullam, David began to develop a new level of trust in the living God. 1 Samuel 23, we're gonna see this man whose heart after God proves to us that he had learned the lesson of looking up, that he had graduated from the elementary school of God, and that he had not wasted his brokenness and pain, that he had turned his brokenness not into bitterness, that he had not allowed his suffering to embitter him, that he had not allowed the unfairness and the injustice that is taking place in his life to dissipate his spiritual energy, that he had not allowed resentment to cloud his vision of the future.
Look at verses 1 and 2 with me. 23, 1 Samuel. In the old translation said "behold". Modern translation said, "Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they're looting the threshing floor". That is where all the supply for the rest of the year of food, basically guaranteeing their starvation to death. But here it comes. Here's what I want you to listen to very carefully. Here it comes. Are you ready for it? You ready for it in the second verse? "And David inquired of the LORD". Say that with me: "David... inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I go to attack these Philistines?'"
Now, beloved, please listen to me. You can linger on this statement, this short statement, for a long, long time, and I pray to God that you will. Just linger with it, meditate on it, think about it. You see, after the flash of victory over Goliath, Saul would say to David, "Go and get me a hundred Philistines". He'd get 200. "Go and do this". He'll do more. "Go and do this," and do more, and what happened? He began to develop confidence in himself, not in the living God, who gave him the strength to defeat Goliath. And so, the moment fear came in, he had to flee in fear, but as he turned his cave of Adullam into a prayer closet, as we saw in the last message, he now comes out graduating from the testing school of God. He comes out trusting yet again in the living God, and that is, beloved, what I call Faith 101, or Trust 101.
I want you to hear me out in this one. Most likely in the spiritual school, you keep on repeating first grade over and over and over again, and you're not moving forward. Having said that, I always confess. I always come clean with you, that even though I've been walking with the Lord for 50-plus years, whenever I fail to inquire of the Lord, every time, not just sometime, every time, I bomb out big time. Even though I have already gone to sixth grade, spiritual speaking, that is, but whenever I do not inquire of the Lord, whenever I jump ahead of the Lord, I flop big time.
Now, regardless of what grade you're in, in the spiritual school, whatever grade you're in, it's between you and God. I know, but I know, but I know when I do not inquire of the Lord, I fail. Whenever I run ahead of the Lord and not wait upon the Lord and hear the voice of the Lord, I fail big time. David inquired of the Lord. Say it with me, "David inquired of the Lord". A short sentence, but it contains volumes. It really does. In my heart of hearts, I know that I can preach several sermons on that sentence. During this time in David's life, he wrote three psalms. I want you to write them down. I'll repeat them so you get a chance to write them down.
Psalm 27, Psalm 31, and Psalm 54; 27, 31, and 54. In fact, in Psalm 31, verse 15, he summarizes the lesson that he had just learned coming out of the cave of Adullam. "My times are in your hands". Say it with me. "My times are in your hands". Brokenness taught David that God is in control of the very breath that he draws, that God is in control of our times, that God is in control of good times and bad, that God is in control of the joyful time and the sorrowful times, that God is in control whether you're in the cave or whether you're facing a question mark or an exclamation point. David knew that he could not be both in the hand of the enemy and in the hand of God all at the same time. When you are in God's hands, gloom disappears in the light of his sunshine. Fear departs when faith emerges.
Peace comes in when trusting of God dominates your life. All of our times are in his hands. That's the first lesson that David learned. It's the first lesson. First lesson is to inquire of the Lord. When he emerged from this prayer closet, he learned to inquire of the Lord and not take matters into his own hands, and think, "Boy, I can live on yesterday's blessings. I can live on my yesterday's testimony," but he had to have a testimony every single day and every single moment of his life, and same with us. We can't live on the blessings of yesterday, just like the Israelites could not hoard the manna and keep it in the tent. They have to trust God every single morning that he's gonna provide, and we have to trust God to provide us with daily testimony in our walk with him.
Second lesson, David refused to be detracted by the detractors, and if you do not have detractors in your life, please come. I'll introduce you for the many that I have, and I've had through the years. Through the years, I have detractors all the time. Hear me out. You see, it's one thing you say to the Lord, "Lord, I want to discern your mind, I want to discern your will," and it's a whole different thing altogether to allow the detractors to detract you from doing the will of God. It is one thing to pray, "Lord, reveal your will to me," and it's a whole different ballgame to obey that will unconditionally. It is one thing to inquire of the Lord but quite another to be willing to pay the price of obeying Him.
David, after inquiring of the Lord, did not do what many of us tend to do. He did not turn to his motley crew that I talked about. He did not turn to them and said, "Well, God has spoken, but what do you think"? Hello. David obviously heard from the Lord so clearly, and so that he said to this motley crew, he said, "Guys, let's go". David motley crew, they were not excited about going to battle. Don't blame them. Just wait until we see ourselves in them, okay? You see, they came to David and they were very happy to receive comfort and joy and peace and encouragement, just like us. Hello, like us. We are glad to come to the Lord from our distress and our bankruptcies and our dissatisfactions, just like those guys did. And just like us, they wanna get all that they can get from the Lord, but, "Ooh, spiritual warfare, I didn't sign up for that".
Let me just get along. Just let's compromise a little bit here and a little bit there. Let's not stand up and be obvious. Happy to receive salvation, we are happy to receive blessings, we are happy to receive answers to prayer, we are happy to have joy, peace, and comfort and, "Witness to my co-workers and neighbors? Oh, no. No way, no way. You don't understand, Michael. These are vicious people. They will attack me. They will alienate me". God has spoken to us about these issues. "Oh, it's just not for me".
As one guy said to me many, many years ago, he said, "I'm gonna read the Bible and find some loopholes". I said, "Best of luck". When David faced this opposition from his men, he turned to the Lord a second time. He goes to the Lord a second time. But I don't believe for a moment that he was doubting what God said the first time. Verse 4, here's a Youssef translation if there ever was one. "Lord, did I hear you right the first time"? God says, "Not only that you heard me right, get off your blessed assurance and go and fight. I've already ordered the victory".
God ordered the victory. Question, what is really important to God at this point? It's right in the text. What was important to God is that David is now learning to inquire of the Lord. That's really what's important to God. He's seeing his servant David is now inquiring of him and not jumping the gun, doing his thing. It is a wonderful habit to develop, it's a wonderful habit to teach our children, it is a wonderful legacy to leave our children: inquiring of the Lord.
And ultimately, the will of God was followed, not the detractors', which brings me to the third lesson, right there in the text. I'm not making it up. God, his will must be obeyed. God's will must be obeyed. Whenever God speaks to you and he asks you to do something great for God, I promise you, detractors will be at your heels. Moses had his detractors. It was Korah and company, but he obeyed God. Nehemiah had his detractors, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, but he obeyed God. Job had his detractors.
I'm reading Job right now, and my goodness, these are comforters? If these are comforters, I don't want them. I mean, these friends, they were his detractors. Even his wife said, "Curse God and die," but he obeyed God. Jeremiah had his detractors, the king himself was his detractor, but Jeremiah obeyed God. Elijah had his fair share of detractors, this wicked, evil queen Jezebel and her spineless husband, Ahab, but he ultimately obeyed God. Jesus had many detractors, including some of his disciples who did not want him to go to the cross, but he obeyed the Father. Thank God he did. Paul had his detractors. The Judaizers were nipping at his heels everywhere he went, but he obeyed God. Martin Luther had his detractors. There was a king and the pope, but, ultimately, he obeyed God.
The fourth lesson, the outcome of the first three: victory. When you inquire of the Lord and when you refuse to listen to the detractors and when you commit to obeying the will of God in your life, the natural outcome is what? Look at verse 5: "So David and his men went to Keilah," finally. There may be someone here who will be saying, "Well, Michael, I never receive victory. I pray, I read the Bible, I go to a Bible study. I just don't seem to have victory in my life". Question, are you listening to the Word of God? Are you refusing to be detracted by the detractors, whoever they may be? And are you obeying the Word of God?
Think about this. Check and see if one or all three are missing. Somebody else might say, "Well, Michael, I understand what you're saying. I inquire of the Lord, but I don't hear anything. I really inquire of the Lord". Here's what I think: Most people listening to the Lord like a guy on a phone, and the television is at maximum volume, loud, the stereo is bellowing, lots of people in the room and they're all talking loud. Think about this. And if the phone is away from the base, in the midst of this, what is he saying? "What? I can't hear you. Speak louder. Your voice keeps cutting in and out".
Without spending time alone with God, you cannot hear God. The question often asked is, well, how can I discern the will of God? And it's a great question. I'll give you a hint: God will never contradict his Word, and he will never ask you to do something that is not consistent with his Word. God never contradicts himself. David obeyed God even when it was unpopular, when he had many oppositions, even when there was a price to pay, even when there was a sacrifice to be made, even when it was not very acceptable, or even when it wasn't the hottest thing on Wall Street, but God gave him victory. Verse 14, I'm going to come back to it in a minute. "Day after day Saul searched for David, but God did not give David to his hands".
Now, I'm gonna come back to this, but there's something else very important I want to tell you. David had developed the habit of inquiring of the Lord. You say, "How do you know that"? He's the second time in a very short period of time, second time, he comes to the Lord. I cannot tell you how important it is to listen and to inquire of the Lord. Verse 6, Abiathur the priest brings the ephod. You remember, the ephod is what the high priest wore. It's in the garment of the high priest, and there are two precious stones on the garment of the high priest. One is called the urim and the thummim. And when the high priest is inquiring of the Lord, "Lord, shall we do this"?
If the answer is yes, those two stones will shine bright and bright and brighter. If the answer is no, those stones will go dim. David does not usurp the role of the priest. That's the one thing Saul did and paid heavily for it, but here he does not usurp it. He said to Abiathar, he said, "Bring David. Let him, the priest, do it to inquire of the Lord". So, David said, "Lord, I heard that Saul is coming nearby, here," because Keilah was really close to him, "and I know that he wants to kill me. Are these people gonna give me up to Saul"? And the Lord answered him with clarity, clarity.
What happens when you develop the habit of inquiring of the Lord? The more the voice of God is clearer. And if you haven't started, start today. With clarity, God spoke to David. Today we don't have an urim and thummim. We don't have, but we have the Word of God and we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, and when the Holy Spirit is presiding in your life, listen to me, when the Holy Spirit is not grieved or quenched because of sin and unconfessed sin in my life, because when the Holy Spirit not crowded out by human logic and secular thinking, and public opinion, then you'll discern the mind of God.
When you're willing to sacrifice your opinion, your desire, and your wants, you will hear the voice of God, and you'll hear that small voice the Bible talks аbout: "This is the way. Walk ye in it". In David's case he asked the Lord if the people whom he had just delivered from utter destruction, the people who he had just delivered from the hands of the Philistines, will they betray him? And the Lord said, yes, they will, they will.
David could have done what we often do or like to do, and he would've reacted like many of us would love to react: "I helped these people, I delivered these people from destruction, I saved their hides from the Philistines, I have done them a huge favor. They owe me big time. What do you mean they are going to give me into the hands of Saul? They're going to do what? Deliver me to Saul"? But the restored David, the man who started developing Trust 101, the man David post the cave of Adullam prayer closet time, he just quietly leaves. Now I'm gonna come back to verse 14. I told you I'm gonna come back to it, and I told you to underline it. "Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands".
Now, beloved, let me tell you something. The devil is after you every single day. If you love Jesus, he's gonna be after you every single day, day after day, and not only you, but yours. The Bible's very clear that he comes to steal, destroy, and to kill. Wake up to the spiritual war in which we live. But God. But God. Can you say it with me? But God. As long as you inquire of the Lord, as long as you refuse to be detracted by the detractors, as long as you're willing to obey the will of the Lord, God upholds you with his right hand.