How To Get Out Of A Cave

What do you do when what you believe to be true is at odds with what you are experiencing? 

At a young age David became the God-appointed future king of Israel. His surprise defeat of Goliath the giant only further confirmed that the prophetic words of old Samuel would soon come true – David would sit on Israel’s throne.

However, after a time in the palace of King Saul, David was driven out into the wilderness, running and hiding for his life. When he ended up taking shelter in a cave, David had to contend not only with the material threat of King Saul and his warriors, but also the spiritual threat of despair and losing faith. God’s promise of one day being a king in a royal palace were at great odds with his present reality as vulnerable prey in a dark cave. 

So how does David get out of the cave? How does he reconcile his present trouble with the promises of God? 

We find answers in Psalm 142, which we are told was written by David while he was in a cave, more than likely the cave mentioned in 1 Samuel 22 or 24. Of course, the precise identification of the cave is not really important, but rather what the cave means to David – trouble.

As David’s prayer makes clear, he finds himself in a cave because people want to trap him and take his life. He finds himself surrounded by troubles – a human experience we can all identify with. 

David begins his prayer by crying out and lifting up his voice. Why? Because he is in trouble and his spirit is faint within him. This is the first step in getting out of the cave – pray to the One who can get you out.  

The next step taken in David’s prayer is a short confession about God: “you know my way!” (v.3). David tells his troubles to God because God is both a God who knows exactly what David is going through and a God who knows the way David needs to go. There is no use crying out to a god who doesn’t understand or can’t get you out of troubles. 

God knows the way, as David confesses, but that doesn’t mean that God’s path is trouble-free. This is what we observe in the second half of the third verse: “In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.”

In effect, David says: “God, I’m calling on you because you know my way, and right now my way is filled with troubles and traps.” 

This is the first tension present in David’s prayer – God knows our path, but sometimes our path runs straight through the troubles of life. In verses 4-5 we read, in reverse fashion, the second tension of the psalm: “no refuge remains to me…I say, ‘You are my refuge’” 

First, David bares his soul and tells God how he is feeling – “I feel all alone and have no safe refuge.” Now, this feels like a step backwards into the dark cave. Did David just forget everything he knows about God? Has he left his faith behind? Does he not believe that God is a refuge?

What may seem like a backwards step is actually an important step forward. The psalms teach us over and over to not hold back when we come before God in prayer. We do not need to suppress our doubts, fears, or emotions, rather, we can pour it all out to a God who hears and who understands our human condition.

Being honest with God is an important step forward out of the cave, but it doesn’t get us all the way out. At least one more crucial step must be taken. We must respond to how we feel with what we know to be true about God. Our words must be met with God’s words.

David feels like there is no refuge, that no one cares about him, but David also believes God is his refuge. He counters his fears with faith. He matches his words with God’s words. David is feeling very alone within the small confines of a cave, but he also knows he has a future with God in the spacious land of the living. In fact, this is the note on which David ends his prayer: “The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.” 

David is surrounded by stony walls and Saul’s warriors who have dealt treacherously with him, but his faith in God leads him to confess his confidence in a future where he is surrounded by the people of God, enjoying the abundance of God’s goodness. This is not merely wishful thinking, but a confident hope in what cannot yet be seen.

So, what do you do when you are in a dark cave of troubles and both God’s rescue and refuge seem to be far away? Take a cue from David. Pray to God, trusting that He knows and cares about all your troubles. Then pour out your complaint, voice your doubts, and express your emotions.

But don’t stop there! Tell yourself what is true. Look beyond the horizon of your own experience and aim to see the whole picture, which has at its center the gospel of Jesus Christ. Think about the infinite dimensions of Christ’s love and dwell on the abundance of eternal blessings you have in Him. 

That is the way out of the cave.