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LESSONS
FROM THE CAVE: RESPONDING
TO PROPHETIC DELAY
By
David Orton
His
dreams of fulfilled destiny lay wrecked before him.
From
the heights of being anointed for the throne, and of a famous
victory over one of Israel’s most forbidding enemies David was now
thrust from Saul’s service into a fugitive life. Far from the
comforts of the palace he found himself fighting for his survival
alone in the wilderness.
But
this time, instead of a Philistine giant, the threat was posed by
the king of Israel himself, whom I’m sure David had legitimately
felt was designed to be his mentor and patron. The word of the Lord
through Samuel had been so clear, surely Saul would see that he was
the anointed and bow to the Lord’s choice!
Sadly
this was not to be. The very one he looked to for support and
promotion was now his enemy. Saul overtaken by jealousy made several
attempts on David’s life driving him into one of the most
perplexing trials of his oftentimes traumatic life.
A
Generation After the Heart of David
A
picture, in my view, of a new
order – of this generation. There is alive in the earth
now a new breed of Christian, of prophetic intercessors and seers,
men and women of the Spirit, a truly apostolic and prophetic
generation, who like David have been anointed and set apart for the
throne. They have had a glimpse of the kingdom. And as a prophetic
generation they have seen the Lord coming in awesome revivals and
outpourings of his glory filling the earth, overtaking whole cities
and nations.
But
Saul, the "head and
shoulders" leader (the "head"
representing human thinking and the "shoulders"
human government or control; see 1 Sam.9:2), is still on the throne.
Saul, signifying the whole spirit and system of an old
order, is uneasy about this new breed of believer. In
fact, he has driven many of them, like David, into hiding. And they
are now waiting in the wings, as an "underground
movement", in the equivalent of what was for David,
Adullam’s Cave – a place of darkness and anonymity. A place of
delayed dreams and disappointment. A place where the Lord himself,
through "the dark night of
the soul", will become their stronghold and refuge.
A place without which they would not be the people they are destined
to be, nor be equipped to carry the weight of glory that will soon
be theirs. A place of prophetic
delay.
The
Principle of Prophetic Delay
This
is a principle of God’s operation. Every great move of God has
been born through the gestation of a prophetic
delay.
Joseph
received his vision as a 17-year-old youth, only to enjoy its
fulfilment some 13 years later when finally at the age of 30, after
being proven through many trials and disappointments, he was raised
up to the saving of nations. The psalmist describes this principle: "He
sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They
afflicted his feet with fetters; he himself was laid in irons, until
the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested
him" (Psa 105:17-19 NASB).
Now,
here is the rub. During the
delay the dream tests and refines us. So, the question
right now is: how do we respond to the dilemma of delayed fulfilment?
Let’s
have a look at how David handled it. In the truly candid way that
only Scripture records, we see him responding both negatively and
positively. At first, we see David in a "knee-jerk"
survival response but in time finding God in such a way that he was
changed and therefore readied for prophetic fulfilment.
David
was a man engaged in a process with God. Prophetically set apart and
anointed for the throne but now standing in the darkness of
Adullam’s Cave. Let us consider the nature of that process and
learn the lesson for our generation – a lesson from the cave.
The
Number One Lesson During Prophetic Delays
Despite
initially fleeing to Samuel, to whom he unloaded about the injustice
of Saul’s treatment (1 Sam. 19:18), he did not wait for the word
of the Lord but fled to Jonathan. His confusion at Saul’s
behaviour is evident when David asked him, "What
have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that
he is trying to take my life?" (1 Sam 20:1).
Confused and smarting over the injustice he conspired with Jonathan
to mislead Saul (v. 5-8). Having already engaged in deception and
lying to preserve himself he then fled to Ahimelech the priest where
he again lied to cover the fact that he was fleeing from Saul (1 Sam
21:1-2). Still in survival mode he asked the priest for bread and a
weapon.
The
irony of David’s circumstances became stark. The only weapon at
hand was the sword of Goliath of Gath. David who had faced-down this
raging and mocking enemy through a mere sling and stone was now in
panic resorting to the same weapon that had already proven impotent
against one with inferior weaponry but whose trust was in a superior
God. From what spiritual heights he had so suddenly fallen!
But
he was yet to fall further. From Ahimelech the priest he fled to the
Philistines, to Goliath’s chief, the king of Gath himself. Here
his former exploits are remembered. And so, reduced to feigning
insanity by foaming at the mouth and dribbling into his beard he was
ejected from the king’s presence escaping finally to his hold at
Adullam’s Cave.
Wow!
What a sorry tale of human survival and cunning. David in confusion
and panic rather than trusting the Lord resorted to human intrigue,
lies, and manipulation to survive. Stripped of all his usual
securities his animal instinct for survival came to the surface.
But
why was God allowing this? What was this process all about? And how
could David make some sense out of his sudden misfortune?
Despite
appearances the Lord had not lost control of David’s life. As the
apostle explains so clearly, "for
it is God who is at work in us to will and do according to his own
good pleasure". And this is always to one end: so
that we may "become
blameless and pure as a child of God without fault in a crooked and
depraved (twisted) generation" (Phil 2:13-15). To
put it another way, you can get the man out of the system but you
can’t always get the system out of the man.
David
had been thrust out of the system – out of the old
order, but he was now on a crash course to get the system
out of him. Any residue of the Saul nature in David, was being
exposed to set him free to be truly a man after the heart of God.
Every twist of his inner-life was being straightened so that he
could touch God’s heart and destiny for his generation. How can we
be used of God except we be inwardly clean? As the prophet declared
– "Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord!" So,
God was overseeing the circumstances of David’s life to work
something within him.
The
one thing that robbed Saul of the kingdom was his inner-life. When
confronted with a prophetic
delay he grew impatient rashly offering sacrifice to
secure his own leadership even though he had been clearly told to
wait (1 Sam 15). His refusal to deal with uncrucified self,
manifested in self-will,
self-preservation,
and self-promotion
ultimately lost him the throne and it passed to a better man (1 Sam
15:28).
But
how could David be the "better man"? Surely he committed
murder and adultery! Now, Saul never stooped to that but still lost
the kingdom! Why? Without excusing David’s behaviour obviously
God’s hierarchy of sin is vastly different to ours. In our view
adultery and murder pretty well top the list while self-will
or self-preservation
would be close to the bottom. Even so, God’s ways are not ours.
Saul’s sin of self-will
was exposed, from God’s perspective, as in fact being witchcraft
(1 Sam 15:23).
Paul
elsewhere describes this problem as the flesh,
explaining that it is
antagonistic to the Spirit. This was the fundamental difference
between Saul and David. While admittedly, David had significant
lapses in character, when his self-life
was confronted he broke in repentance coming through the other side
having processed deep inner-change (Psa 51). This, Saul refused to
do. Consequently the atmosphere of David’s life was characterised
by worship and the presence of God – he was therefore, before all
else, a man of the Spirit. God could not help but place his
endorsement on this man possessed of a broken and contrite spirit.
So,
caught in the processes of God, once in the cave, David turned to
the Lord. Psalm 142 is the cry of his heart from inside Adullam’s
Cave – from experiencing the "dark
night of the soul". In it he pours out his complaint
and his troubles before the Lord (v. 1,2), and then completely
overwhelmed he cries, "When
my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way" (v.
3). While men may look at his circumstances, pass
judgement, and withdraw the Lord knows and understands his way. His
situation has been divinely orchestrated. God has allowed it to
bring his servant to a place of complete weakness and inability. At
last, this is it! This is where God wanted him! It is the number one
lesson of the cave, of prophetic
delay – the lesson
of brokenness.
This
one lesson deals a deathblow to the two greatest temptations during
a prophetic delay: survival
and self-fulfilment.
We either resort to natural strength – our ability to organise,
control, and manipulate or to the Lord for survival and dream
fulfilment. He cries out, "…I
am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they
are too strong for me" (v.6). He is over his head.
The enemy is too powerful. He is completely surrounded. So, unless
the Lord shows up to deliver him and bring to pass the prophetic
word he is dead – a victim of Saul, of the old
order.
The
Mark of the New Order
Therefore,
the mark of the new order
is not membership of a particular group or movement. It is whether
we have yielded to the processes of God in the perplexity of
prophetic delay and learned the
lessons of the cave.
We
stand at a transitional point in
history – the overlap between an old
order and the new.
There is right now a new move of God being prepared in the wings.
But before it breaks forth,
we are being faced with a time of prophetic
delay, and therefore with decisions – will we find
refuge and dream fulfilment through human ability, "head
and shoulders" government, or in the Lord? Will we
cast ourselves in brokenness on him or merely resolve to overcome in
our own strength depending on our skill, training, and programs –
on human strategy and planning? The purpose of prophetic
delay, of transitional times is probationary – we are
being weighed in the balance – but will it fall to the old order
of human control or to the new order of humility and brokenness.
We
are talking here about an inner quality of the spirit that is
supernatural. It cannot be faked – it is more than cultural
graciousness and good manners. It is something deep in the human
spirit that only God himself can create. It comes in the extremity
of our circumstances – when we are either crushed by the weight of
God’s awesome presence or overwhelmed without emotional, physical,
or financial strength – when in utter weakness we call on the
Lord.
Therefore,
let us cry with David, "Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within
me"; for "the
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite
heart…" (Psa 51:10, 17).
And
in this moment of prophetic
delay let us also be confident that the One who lives in
a high and holy place lives also with "he
who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the
lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Isa 57:15).
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Copyright
© David Orton 2002
A
prophetic teaching from David Orton
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