Adullam Cave: A Place of Hope for Broken Dreams

You know it’s funny how life has a way of leading us to unexpected places. We might start with big dreams and hopes and so often we find ourselves mired in a place where our dreams lay broken around us, and at these times, in these places, it might seem like we’re stuck in a cave of despair.

We have the privilege of hearing again from Rev Nathan Pedro who comes to us with a word based on 1 Samuel 22:1-5 and 1 Corinthians 2:1-14 which seems to invite us to reflect on how God can meet us in these times and places and who has the power to breathe new life into what we may feel is lost or broken. Now I don’t know exactly what Rev Pedro will share on Sunday as I only readings and the title of his sermon but as we prepare our hearts for this message, the passages do seem to raise some questions that are relevant for Christians today.

In 1 Samuel 22:1-5, David, fleeing from King Saul, took refuge in the cave of Adullam. He was annointed by Samuel as Israel’s future king, and here he was hiding and uncertainty of what was ahead of him. But in this cave, we find that God began to gather people to him, people who were misfits and outcasts, people in distress, people who would eventually become the foundation of his future leadership. And as I read this story again, it reminds us that God can, and often does work in places that we least expect, and who does transform our caves of despair into reimagined hopes and dreams.

And this seems to resonate with 1 Corinthians 2:1-14, where Paul admonishes us not to rely on human wisdom, but rather that we must always rest in the power of God’s Spirit. In these caves of uncertainty, we are encouraged to rest in God’s wisdom when our own understanding falls short. But begs the question for us today, ‘what ‘caves’ am I in right now?’ Are they relationship caves, vocational caves or even caves of doubt? How might God be inviting us to trust Him in those places and who is God bringing alongside us in support? What dreams of ours seem lost and how might God be reimagining them? Maybe Rev Pedro will speak into this questions from scripture.

Take time to read these passages and may God bless you as you meditate on God’s Word. I am sorry that I won’t be with you this Sunday due to national church commitments but I pray that this will be a time of great fellowship where God is given all glory.

Blessings

Josh