David’s Cave: A Message for the Broken, Betrayed, and Burdened | Jonathan Evans Sermon

You've got to remind yourself that your problems are not greater than his promise. He is exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you can ask or think. And if you get into his arms, he can carry you up to an altitude that will suffocate the predator as the predator tries to chase.

Be gracious to me, oh God. Be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in you, and in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge until destruction passes by. I will cry to God most high, to God who accomplishes all things for me. He will send from heaven and save me.

He reproaches him who tramples upon me. God will send forth his loving kindness and his truth. My soul is among lions. I must lie among those who breathe forth fire. Even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. Be exalted above the heavens.

Oh God, let your glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dug a pit before me. They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. My heart is steadfast, oh God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing.

Yes, I will sing praises. Awake my glory. Awake harp and liar. I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your loving kindness is great to the heavens and your truth to the clouds.

Be exalted above the heavens, oh God. Let your glory be above all the earth. Hi, I'm David. I bet you're wondering, what am I doing in this cave? How did I get here? I don't even know. It wasn't always this way for me. I wasn't always in a cave.

When the Bible writes about me in 1st Samuel 16, I was anointed king. It wasn't even supposed to be me, but the favor of God was on me. It was supposed to be my big brother, Eliab. But when God calls you, he skips the natural order of things and he finds you.

He anointed me as king and the favor of God was on me and the journey began. I then quickly became Saul's armor bearer. You know, the king of Israel at the time. I'm a musician, so I was able to play for him. He had an evil spirit problem.

And when evil spirits were on him, I played for him. And when I played for him, the evil spirits would leave him. I was there to soothe the king. And I did. Even after that, they were at war with the Philistines. And there was this big guy who for 40 days and 40 nights was Fifi faux fing.

And all of Israel's men were running. Even King Saul wouldn't fight him. And I said, "I'll fight him." And King Saul gave me his armor because he wasn't going to use it. And I told him, "No, that's okay. I don't need it. All I need is what God has already provided for me, my slingshot."

And I went to the brook and grabbed five smooth stones. Not because I thought it was going to miss. It was because I knew Goliath had four brothers. And I hit him right between the eyes. and he fell and all of Israel cheered and the tyranny of Israel had gone away.

God was using me. And then they started to sing about me. They said, "Saul kills his thousands, but David is 10 thousands." I guess they should have kept quiet because that's when the problem started. In 1st Samuel 18:15, Saul saw the prosperity that was coming to me and it says that he dreaded me.

It wasn't much longer after that and saw in 1st Samuel 19:1, he looked to his son Jonathan, which became my best friend by the way, and his servants, and he commanded that they go kill me. How could it be that I helped you and now you want to hurt me?

And many of you have experience this. If I pause my story just for a second, that you've given your all to someone and now they betray you. Or you work righteously on the job and then they demote you. Or you love someone unconditionally only to look up and see that they leave you.

Or you try your best to take care of yourself and then they still give a bad diagnosis to you. or you leave your dreams behind so that you can uplift the dreams of someone else only to look up and see that now they resent you. So I just wanted to say from my cave to your cave that you could be in, I'm sorry.

I really am. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that now you're running away from a situation you used to be a blessing to. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you came in from the front door with a smile, but you left out of the back door in tears. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you used to be a shining light only to be regulated to the shadows now.

I'm really sorry about some of the caves that you are in. I'm sorry that the people that celebrated you are now the people you have to escape. I'm sorry that you built something with blood, sweat, and tears only to look back and seeing that it's being torn down by the hands of someone else.

I'm sorry that at one point, like me, you conquered and now you look up and you're in a cave. That's where I am is if you can see I'm stuck in this cave. And that's not even the worst part. Yes, Saul was chasing me. But the worst part about this cave is not that I got chased into it.

It's that now I don't even know how to get out of the cave that I got chased into. And many of you in this building today, if the truth be told, and even those of you who are watching online, that was a new feature. We didn't have that back then.

The truth be told, you're in a cave of depression, aren't you? You're in a cave of anxiety, a cave of fear, and a cave of bitterness. And something, yes, chased you in there. But now you don't even know how to get out of the cave that you have been chased into.

You're stuck. And and I was invited here from the past by the present. Your pastor, what do you call him? Pastor Jay or something. He told me his heart for the flock. And he said when people tell him their situation, he wish right then and there he could just perform the surgery and take it out.

He wished that he could just speak a word and the depression falls, speak a word and the anxiety evaporate. He wishes that he could be the miracle worker, but he can't. And I tell you this story today in my cave from your cave and it's my story. It's my testimony.

But what I cannot do is heal you. No person, place, or thing can do that for you. And it couldn't be done for me either. So I was just in my cave stuck. So I recessed to the back with my men in the darkness in the shadows. And there, while I was in that cave, I began to pin Psalm 57 as you know it.

And I want you to hear this because some of you will need this today. If you don't need it today, you will need it tomorrow. You live something called life. And I heard somebody say when I was walking in a new term, life bean. And so I wrote this psalm in the cave when I had no way of getting out.

And I wrote, "Be gracious to me, oh God. Be gracious to me." The reason why I started out with the grace of God is because it is the unmarited favor of God in my life and in yours. In other words, I could not use my own might or my own power to get myself out.

I needed his grace. I needed his mercy. There was no way for me to run or nowhere for me to hide. He was still coming for me. The enemy, the situation was still lurking. And I needed the grace of God. I needed him to be the opponent of my enemy.

I needed him to be the cover of the rain, the healer for the disease. In other words, I just needed him to do it because I couldn't do it on my own. It was me in the cave showing my weakness because in my weakness I know his power is perfected.

That his grace is ultimately sufficient for me. And I need you to understand that I can't heal you. Your pastor can't. No person can. But God can. And you have to go to your prayer closet and start the way I started. Be gracious to me, oh God. It's the unmmerited favor.

Some of you are still in the cave because you're still trying to save yourself. You're still trying to use your own work, your own strength, and your own might. And if you were that strong, you wouldn't have been in the cave to begin with. I needed his help. and so do you.

I kept on writing in verse one and I said, "My soul takes refuge in you." In other words, I'm in a cave, but I don't need my soul to be there. What is your soul? Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. And I didn't need my mind, my will, and my emotions to be tethered to what was chasing me.

I didn't need my mind, my will, and my emotions to be connected to what they said to me. I didn't need my mind, my will, and my emotions to be stuck on what they did to me. I didn't need my mind, my will, and my emotions to be connected to the diagnosis that they gave me.

I needed my mind, my will, and my emotions to be connected to the one who anointed me. Don't you know as believers you can be in two places at once? The Bible says you are seated with him in heavenly places. You don't have to be stuck on earth unless you choose to.

You can place your mind, your will, and your emotions in a different place. And why did I do that? I knew that I was facing a spiritual battle. So, I knew a natural cave wouldn't work. And many of you are still going after natural caves in a spiritual battle.

And I knew it was a spiritual battle. I told you I used to play for the man. He had evil spirits. Your battle is not against flesh and blood. It is against the rulers, the principalities, the world forces of darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.

You better not stay in that cave. You better find a way to put your soul in a different place than your physical location. Two places at once is the calling of the believer. So that you can continue to be steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that it will not go in vain.

How do you keep moving? My soul is okay. And as I pinned that in the cave, I stood up amongst my men. They were wondering what was going on, but my soul was feeling so much better even though I was in a bad place. And as I stood up, I sang, "It is well.

It is well with my soul with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. And maybe you need that this morning like my men did. It is well with my soul with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. I'll never forget my men wondering what was going on and then joining in in song.

That's right. Because my soul was not stuck in the cave. And I continued to write in this cave. And I said, "In the shadows of your wings, I take refuge, Lord." I was thinking about in my day when a bird would be under the wing of its parent.

You see, when the predator would fly by in the sky, the parent bird would stick its wing out to cover the baby bird so that the predator could not see what it was preying on. In other words, in order for that bird to be safe, it would have to be still.

It could not go its own way. It cannot use its own mind. It cannot go based on its own thought pattern. It's too immature for that. It would have to stay under the wing of its parent. And I said, "Lord, I will be still and know that you are God."

Exodus 14:14 says, "The Lord will fight your battles if you just be still." In other words, you have to do something. Trust him in the cave. You have to believe your steps are ordered. that he'll never leave you nor forsake you, that he will cover you. If he has anointed you, he's not done with you yet.

Stay under his wing. Be still. You may be asking, "But wait a minute. Wait a minute, Jonathan." I mean, oops. I had a long conversation with him backstage. I got confused on who I was. Wait a minute, David. How long do I have to be still and wait?

I wrote that, too. I said until destruction passes by. Until the depression becomes joy. You sit in there. Until the fear becomes courage, the bitterness becomes forgiveness. And the confusion becomes clarity. In other words, you sit under his wing until your change comes. Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.

They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. It says those who wait, not those who don't. Be still. I know it's hard to wait. I was waiting to and I continued to pin because I needed to remind myself as I got to verse two in your Bibles.

For me, my pen was just writing and it was on fire cuz it was all in my heart. I said, "I will cry out to the most high." I had to remind myself, you need to remind yourself just like I did when you're in your prayer closet who you're praying to.

He's the most high God. I was calling out for Lelon. The one who rules as the supreme ruler over all creation. And I needed to remind myself that the creature that's chasing me is not greater than the creator who's saving me. You've got to remind yourself that your problems are not greater than his promise.

He is exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you can ask or think. And if you get into his arms, he can carry you up to an altitude that will suffocate the predator as the predator tries to chase. Remind yourself who you're crying out to. He's llon. He is reign supreme over all creation.

He's greater than your pain. And yes, you're in a cave. But you put your soul in the one who has risen from the ((applause)) grave. I cried out to the most high God and I kept reminding myself who accomplishes all things for me. Oh, you didn't hear. I cry out to the most high God who accomplishes all things for me.

Not some things but all things, even this thing. In other words, you have to remember what the scriptures say. Doesn't Matthew 11 in your Bibles, verse 28, tell you, "Come to me all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That means I do it, you don't.

Cast your cares upon the Lord and he will sustain you. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Do not lean on your own understandings. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. You don't. Everywhere your foot treads, I have already given it to you.

Just as I have spoken to Moses, he does the work if you'll just ((music playing)) wait. He will do it. And as I was writing that and pinning that, I became more confident. Yes, even in a cave. I became confident when I was in this cave. that he who begun a good work in me is faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.

I was confident like Paul in Philippians 1:18. He was sitting in a jail and he said, "I know you will deliver me." I was confident, but I was still in a cave. Don't you know that because of your God, you can be in a cave and still be ((applause)) confident?

I kept writing because I wanted to know how he would deliver me. Verse three, he will send from heaven and save me. He will send from heaven and he will save me. You're dealing with earth's problems. The power is coming from heaven. How can we be so worried on earth and really believe in the power of God who's seated in heavenly places?

He will send from heaven and save you. Didn't he do that in First Kings 18 when Elijah was with the prophets of Baal? He set fire from heaven. Didn't he do that in Exodus 16 when the people were hungry? He sent mana from heaven. Even Gideon got an angel from heaven in Judges 6.

God can send from heaven to earth and save you. Sit in there. Be patient. He's coming. And he's coming with all power. He has not forgotten you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Just wait when you're in your cave. Not only will he send from heaven, but I wrote, "He reproaches those who trample you."

Do you know what it means when God reproaches those who trample you? It means reproach means confuses them. It means he puts them and sets them in disillusion where they can't even make it to the destination they were trying to get to. Oh, you don't get it. Your God sends from heaven and then he confuses your enemy on earth.

Don't you know when the people of Israel were crossing the Red Sea and the Egyptians came running after them in Exodus 14:24 and 25 it says the chariots and the horses got confused. They started spinning in circles. They didn't know where to go or what was happening. And then the waves crashed in on them.

They thought they were going somewhere. But God was just setting them up because they were after his people who he had a promise for. ((applause)) And even in my story, y'all, oh, y'all don't know. You may not remember, but when I was in this cave in 1st Samuel 24:3, Saul was coming after me and he couldn't find me.

He didn't know where I was, but he decided on his journey that he would take a pit stop. It says that he stopped in a cave to relieve himself. The old man had to go pee. And he didn't know that he went to use the bathroom in the cave where I was.

But I knew just because the enemy was close to not walk away from God's will. I would not touch the Lord's anointed or step out of line just because the opportunity presented itself. I was still going to wait on the Lord even in my cave because ultimately it's not about me.

It's about his will and his will being done through me. But I couldn't help myself. He was so close. So I had to go cut a little piece of his robe. And I felt bad about that later. But still the point remains that at that moment God made the predator the prey.

Don't you understand that God is able to turn the ((music playing)) table because he sins from heaven. He confuses and throws into disillusion those who try to trample you and the situations that try to undercut you and the people that try to tear you down. Don't worry, you don't have to try to take them out yourself.

God will fight your battles. ((applause)) Yes. God sent forth his loving kindness on me, his truth, his grace, and I was feeling confident. And yes, I prayed for his grace because I couldn't use my own strength. And I put my soul in a different place. And I knew I would stay there until destruction passes by.

And I knew he would send from heaven. And my confidence is up. My confidence is up. But in verse four, I wanted to remind you that um even though my confidence was up and I knew God would do it, I wrote in verse four that I still among lions.

Those who breathe forth fire are still around me. Those with sharp teeth like arrows that want to cut me. Those who want to devour me, it's still around. Just because you pray and ask for God's favor and ask for God to come through doesn't mean everything changes immediately.

It means that you get changed in the situation you're in. ((applause)) But even though I was surrounded, even though it was tough, I stood up with my men again. My countenance was changed. And I said, "Yes, I'm disappointed, but I'm still anointed. Yes, I still have anxiety, but I also know I have the victory.

Yes, I'm still in a cave, but I'm not in the grave. He is not done with me yet. So, I will not operate with the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and discipline." Why? Because I am more than a conqueror in Jesus Christ. How did I get that way?

Because those who are born of God have been given the victory. What does that mean? No weapon formed against me shall prosper. That he will never leave me nor forsake me. That even though I pass through the waters, he is with me. And even though I pass through the waters, I will not be swept away.

So I will exalt his name. Even in the cave, I will sing his praises. My heart will be steadfast because he's worthy of my worship and my praise. Even from a cave, I will be confident that he who began a good work is faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.

So I said, "Awake, O glory. Awake the harp and the liar. Pull out the instruments, men. We're going to praise in the cave because the cave won't stop us because he has risen from the grave. So I started to sing a new song and I rang out in the cave and I started to sing.

When I think of all you've done when I think about it all the battles you brought me over. Hallelujah. If you're in a cave, you still can praise. If you're in a cave, you still can praise. I think of all when you think about it and all the battles you brought me and he wins the battles for you.

Hallelujah. He's worthy of the praise even if you're in a cave. Come on, say hallelujah. You worship him in the house. ((applause)) Yes, Lord. Hallelujah. Stretch your hands in the sanctuary. Even if you're in a cave, you praise his name. I don't bring you praise. Hallelujah. Wasn't it Paul and Silas in the prison?

And they praised and the jail cells opened and the shackles fell off. Praise not you and all the valley. Hallelujah. Do I have a witness in the place of someone who knows that he is faithful even in my case? We give you the highest praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. We came to worship today. I say be praised. All right. Jesus. He's worthy of the praise. Hallelujah. Come on. We may be in a cave, but you're worthy forever. Jesus, I'll never forget what you've done for me. I won't forget. Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray and beseech you, Lord, on behalf of the congregation and those who have come to the front by the power of your Holy Spirit.

I pray for your comfort, your leading, your guiding, your truth, Lord, to be resident in each and every individual. Lord, we pray Lord that we would feel and believe and walk that you will never leave us nor forsake us. that you are with us even in the cave.

Lord, help us to remain confident, that you will do what you said, that your word is true and you will maintain your promise. Help this group, yes, to not be so discouraged that they won't put one foot of faith in front of the other so that they could see what you're going to do as they go and as they accomplish.

Lord, would you have for their life? Be gracious to them, Father. May your countenance shine upon them, those that are here and online. Give them peace and grace all the days of their life. Enlarge their territory. Bless them. Walk with them. Lord, we need you in this season.

No man has the power, but Lord, you do. Give us the patience to wait. Help us to not grow weary of doing good, but to be faithful stewards of what you have given us. And now, Lord, help us to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. and we'll be careful to give you the glory, the honor, and the praise in Jesus name.

All God's people said, amen. Give him