Never Alone

1 Samuel 21:10-22:2; Psalm 142

David had bottomed out. This was the lowest moment of David’s life to date, and if you want to know how he really felt, just read the song he composed during those days, Psalm 142.

Can you feel the loneliness of that desolate spot? The dampness of that cave? Can you sense David’s despair? The depths to which his life has sunk? There is no escape. There is nothing left. Nothing.

Yet in the midst of all this, David has not lost sight of God. He cries out for the Lord to deliver him. It’s here we catch sight of the very heart of the man, that inward place that God alone truly sees, that unseen quality that God saw back when He chose and anointed the young shepherd boy from Bethlehem.

David has been brought to the place where God can truly begin to shape him and use him. When the sovereign God brings us to nothing, it is to reroute our life, not to end it. Human perspective says, “Aha, you’ve lost this, you’ve lost that. You’ve caused this, you’ve caused that. You’ve ruined this, you’ve ruined that. End your life!” But God says, “No. No. You’re in the cave. But that doesn’t mean it’s curtains. That means it’s time to reroute your life. Now’s the time to start anew!” That’s exactly what He does with David.

Here he is, broken, at the end, without crutches . . . crushed in spirit. And would you look who comes to him? Those same brothers and his father along with the rest of the household. Sometimes when you’re in the cave, you don’t want others around. Sometimes you just can’t stand to be with people. You hate to admit it publicly; in fact, you usually don’t. But it’s true. Sometimes you just want to be alone. And I have a feeling that at that moment in his life, this cave dweller, David, wanted nobody around. Because if he wasn’t worth anything to himself, he didn’t see his worth to anybody else.

David didn’t want his family, but they came. He didn’t want them there, but God brought them anyway. I love it that they crawled right into that cave with him.

Taken from Great Days with the Great Lives by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com

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Pastor Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word. He is the founding pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, but Chuck’s listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. As a leading programme in Christian broadcasting since 1979, Insight for Living airs around the world. Chuck’s leadership as president and now chancellor emeritus at Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation of men and women for ministry.

పాస్టర్ చార్లెస్ ఆర్. స్విండాల్ దేవుని వాక్యాన్ని నిర్దిష్టంగా, ఆచరణాత్మకంగా బోధించడానికి మరియు అన్వయించడానికి తన జీవితాన్ని అంకితం చేశారు. ఆయన టెక్సాస్‌లోని ఫ్రిస్కోలోని స్టోన్‌బ్రయర్ కమ్యూనిటీ చర్చి వ్యవస్థాపక కాపరియై ఉన్నారు, అయితే చక్ యొక్క శ్రోతలు స్థానిక సంఘ పరిధి దాటి వ్యాపించి ఉన్నారు. 1979 నుండి క్రైస్తవ ప్రసరణలో ప్రముఖ కార్యక్రమంగా, ఇన్‌సైట్ ఫర్ లివింగ్ ప్రపంచవ్యాప్తంగా ప్రసారమవుతోంది. డల్లాస్ థియోలాజికల్ సెమినరీకి ప్రెసిడెంటుగా, అలాగే ఇప్పుడు ఛాన్సిలర్ ఎమెరిటస్‌గా చక్ యొక్క నాయకత్వం క్రొత్త తరం స్త్రీపురుషులను పరిచర్య కొరకు సిద్ధపరచడంలో సహాయపడింది.