CAVE

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon with our media crew at a park. We took some footage under a bridge that I'll use in a message in a couple of weeks. I'll give you a 'sneak peek' though. The idea was about how sometimes we just hit bottom and feel like there is nowhere to go but up and we find ourselves in a figurative cave - hiding - out of energy -- no hope --- useless.

I don’t know if you’ve ever come to the place where you’ve bottomed out. The stock market devastated your savings -- a foreclosure radically changed your family’s living conditions -- finances cut you off at the knees -- you lost your job -- a long-standing relationship blew up or came to an end -- that letter arrived in the mail and everything changed for you -- the doc came in with that ‘I have some bad news' look -- someone you couldn’t live without passed away. I think a lot of people have faced the bottom at one time or another -- maybe you’re facing it now.

It is in this very condition - on the run from an angry and jealous King Saul --- from the caves - that David writes Psalm 142 - and as you read it, don’t hear it as David's prayer, because it’s no longer about David. It’s about you now.

“I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. I pour out my complaint before Him and tell Him my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is You who knows my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. I cry to you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my Portion in the land of the living.’ I don’t know of a soul on earth who cares. Deliver me, Lord.” (Psalm 142:1-7)

Ever felt that way? Lonely. Desolate. No escape. Nothing left. Yet, in the middle of it, the only thing David hasn’t lost sight of is God; because He cries for God to rescue him.

And here’s what it’s really about ... God has brought David at last to the place where He can really be used. When God brings you to a place like the caves where you think it’s the end and there’s nowhere left to go but up, He brings us to these places in order to re-route our lives, not destroy them.

Human perspective says: “I’ve lost this, I’ve lost that ... I’ve ruined this, I’ve ruined that ... I’ve caused this, I’ve caused that ... it’s over ... I’m done ... everything is gone.” But God says: “It’s just re-routing time ... it’s time to pick up and start something fresh and new with Me."

That’s what God does with David - and that’s what God wants to do with you. He hasn’t forgotten you. He hasn’t left you. You are never more remembered or loved by God than when you’re in the cave.

And be blessed.