Mar 5 (1 Sam 22; Psa 57, 142)

1st Samuel 22

(v.1) David has escaped to the cave of Adullam. He will use this cave as a place of refuge a few times. In the Bible, caves served the people in many ways:

~ to bury the dead in (Abraham, Sarah, etc)

~ to find shelter from the weather

~ to pray (Elijah)

~ to hide (David, five kings of Joshua)

A cave can be anything in our lives...a place where we are alone with God. I could be our bedroom, our car, or a solitary place in the woods. When we are alone with God, that's when He speaks to us the most clearly.

But on the other hand, as Jon Courson's Commentary points out, caves can be places of darkness and discomfort. We often call these times in our lives as "storms" but caves can be the same thing. However, as Paul says in Rom 5:3-5, we don't grow near as much in comfort, as we do in times of discomfort.

(v.2) All these men who have nothing to give but their devotion to David remind me of us with Jesus. David the shepherd takes them in for his purposes, much like Jesus our Good Shepherd takes us in for His purposes!

(v.3) Even though David is not surrounded at the time, why does he want his mother and father to stay in Moab? Perhaps it's because David's great-grandmother was Ruth, who was a Moabite. David must have felt that the Moabites would treat his family well under the circumstances.

(v.18) The men of Saul would not kill the priest for helping David. But this other shepherd, Doeg, was willing to kill everyone in the city of Nob as well. I remind my kids that Jesus warned us of a bad shepherd that would deceive and kill. This shepherd is an example and type of the one to come. (Zech 11:17)

(vv.22-23) David realizes that he was the reason the priests and the city of Nob was destroyed by the sword. At the time, David thought he was being clever in his act of insanity, but for every action there is a reaction. David learned this the hard way. I point this out to my kids and stress that all we do has meaning to God and those around us.

Psalm 57

David wrote this psalm while in the cave of Adullam. So here was David, in a dark cave, hiding from death. Normally, we would be crying and fearful, but David writes a song of praise to God!

This is another example of how God works in us...when we are feeling helpless, we can turn to the One who has the power to help us. I read James 1:1 to my kids to remind them of this.

Psalm 142

David is crying out to God for protection and guidance...we all need to do this daily! We have many trials and problems to deal with, but with God in charge of our lives, we can leave those problems at the cross, and He will deal with them!