On the Door Mat at the Cave

For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time he fled from Saul and went into the cave. . . . Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by. Psalm 57:1 NLT

The cave of Adullam - I don't know very much about it beyond the scope of my imagination. I understand that it was in the land of Israel, perhaps not too far from Bethlehem. It may have been a cave with a hidden entrance or winding passages for it was something of a "safe-house".

For David, it was the last place on earth.

Just how David came to be in this cave is a very interesting story and you should investigate that for yourself; it's the people that showed up on the front steps of that cave that I want to discuss.

How word traveled so fast and so efficient in that land of antiquity, we don't know, but somehow David's family soon learned he was there and they were first to show up at the cave.

On first reading, one would think this was a beautiful scene: David all ragged and worn having been on the run for some time and his family coming to his aid with comfort, perhaps a change of clothes, some bedding and maybe even some of those "cheeses" for which his father was famous.

But a little later we learn that David used his influence with a neighboring king to provide sanctuary for this family. The people pursuing David were also after his family. So his family sought out David for the protection he could provide.

Later, the son of one of the priests showed up - scratching on the door of that old limestone cave. How timely! We need a man of the cloth when we find ourselves at life's lowest ebb. But the young man had not come to help - he had come to be helped. That young man's father had given David some food and a weapon. When the wicked king learned of it, he had his armies, destroy that priest and his whole city. The young man alone had escaped.

Finally, when perhaps the cave was becoming a little crowded they heard a noise. The noise grew into something of a collective growl. There on the door mat of the cave Adullam slouched a moping militia of malcontents!

It was an army - 400 of them! And they were all discontent or in great distress or in debt. What a disgruntled mob they had formed. And - you guessed it - like the others, they were there to feed off David.

I just know it must have been raining fiercely as they stood outside that cave door - chilled and soaked to the bone - waiting to see if David would take them in.

A fearful family, a single survivor of a tragic attack, and a mob of people all at the end of their collective ropes.

Why would they go to David? What was it about this bedraggled fugitive that drew them to him?

First of all, I believe they came to him because he understood their trouble - he was in trouble himself. He knew what they were going through.

Secondly, though it seems odd that they would expect inspiration or help from someone that was equally bogged down with distress, David carried with him a sense of destiny. They just knew he was going somewhere. Surely, his God would bring him out.

People who follow Christ will -at times- find themselves at very low points. Invariably that will be the time that other people will show up at the door asking them to give more than they think they have.

At that point, people who follow Christ should follow the example of David - who "followed hard after God".

David took them in.

All of them: his family, the terrorized son of a priest, and the bewildered bunch of grumblers.

And what happened as a result?

Later we find that some of David's brothers joined his army and waxed valiant. The son of the priest would travel with David as something of a chaplain and spiritual advisor. The four hundred?Well they would be David's army! Later their numbers would swell to six hundred and they would become an army so great that it could take on one of the greatest military powerhouses of that day - the army of Israel.

And some of those very men became men of legendary heroics, accomplishing military feats that would live in renown for ages to come; they would become David's Mighty Men of Valour!

This story can be found in the Bible - 1 Samuel 22.