Detours - The Cave Experience (Part 3), by Darrin Vaughan

In your devotion time, read Psalm 142, Psalm 57, 1 Samuel 22:1-5, 1 Samuel 24, Matthew 5:23-24, 1 Corinthians 13, and Proverbs 19:11.

We are nearing the end of this story/detour, and David and these men are approaching a crossroad. Remember David went from killing the lion, to killing the bear, to killing Goliath, and now he has to contend with King Saul and his army. But I believe David's biggest enemy was unseen. I want to talk about those unseen battles today.

1 Samuel 22:1-5
"David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him. From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?” So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold. But the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth."

I want to give a quick review about the points I've shared the last couple of weeks.
1. The Cave of Adullam is the place where David quit and God took over. Sometimes we just have to resign and ask God to take over.
2. The Cave of Adullam became David’s temporary sanctuary. Adullam means refuge.
3. The Cave of Adullam is the place where David encouraged other people in The Lord. It’s one thing to encourage yourself, but it takes something a little extra to be able to encourage other people who are discouraged. The truth is when we are discouraged we want somebody else to come encourage us.

This brings me to David's unseen enemies. Scripture tells us that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.”

When David was in the cave he no doubt had to battle discouragement, loneliness, fear and offense.

Discouragement, Loneliness, and Fear
Scholars believe that David spent between 3 to 6 months living in that dark, lonely cave. While he was there he became captain over 400 people. You might be thinking, "How could anybody be lonely and discouraged with 400 people around them?" Or "How could anybody be scared if 400 people were willing to fight and die for you?"

Have you ever been in a room full of people and felt completely disconnected from them? It's a lonely feeling. I remember giving speeches in school and I always felt petrified and alone, even though there were other students there.

David was having to deal with his own issues. How was he going to address all of their problems? I believe this was a big test to see how well David would handle being king. There were a few different types of people who came to David - those in Distress, in Debt, and those who were Discontented. These were not the type of people that David would have chosen to have around him.

If David couldn't conquer discouragement, loneliness, fear, and offense, then he wouldn't be able to lead this group of people out of the cave.

Offense
The last and biggest enemy David had to deal with was offense. This is probably one of the biggest enemies we will face. Offense is a ruthless enemy that not only hurts other people, but consumes the person who is offended.

Would David be up to the task of forgiving King Saul?
In 1 Samuel 24, King Saul found out David was with his men in a cave in Engedi. So he went with a bunch of soldiers to hunt David down and kill him. Saul is relieving himself in a cave and doesn't realize David and his men are in the cave. David's men said, "Look, the Lord has delivered him into your hands. Kill Saul." But David cut off a piece of his garment without Saul knowing it and he told his men that he would not stretch out his hand against The Lord's anointed. He then calls to Saul and shows him he could've killed him, but he didn't want to harm Saul. Saul then tells David, "You are more righteous than me." And he turned away from following David.

Getting rid of King Saul was not the answer to overcoming offense, because the offense would have still been there after Saul was gone.

Here are a few truths about offense.
1. Offense is inevitable.
2. Offense is a silent killer. It drains us of the energy we could put towards building the kingdom.
3. Offense is contagious. It spreads easily.
4. Offense keeps us in a rut. It may feel like you're moving forward, but in reality you are sinking.
5. Offense taints everything we do. It's like a river that has polluted water flowing into fresh water. The polluted water will corrupt the fresh water every time. God wants pure vessels to flow through.
6. Offense is a choice.
7. It's impossible to maintain healthy relationships if you are easily offended.
8. You can't disciple people to look like Jesus with offense in your heart. They might look like you, but they won't look like Jesus.

In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus said, "So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." You can't give enough, or serve enough to cover up the unforgiveness in your heart. Jesus wants us to be ministers of reconciliation, not people who hold grudges.

Here are some ways you can overcome offense.
1. Choose to Love, even when it hurts. 1 Corinthians 13:5 says, "love...keeps no record of wrongs."
2. One of the best ways to get rid of offense is to stop repeating and rehearsing the offense in your mind. We are called to build bridges, not burn them. I'm not saying that will always be easy, or always be possible, but that should be our goal.
3. Learn to overlook offense. In Luke 17:1, Jesus said offense will come. A mature believer overlooks and forgives the mistakes of others. Proverbs 19:11, "Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense."
4. Develop thick skin and a soft heart. It's one thing to be upset for a moment, then forgive and move on from it, but some people live in a perpetual state of offense. You may have to forgive someone 100 times a day. If that's what it takes, do it. And also pray for them and their family. Prayer has a way of softening your heart towards people. It allows for healing. When you're wounded, other people will always get hurt, but when you're healed, you will be able to help others heal.