1 Samuel 22, David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Dulem. And when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him. And he became a captain over them, and there were with him about four hundred men. David went thence to Mizpah of Moab and he said unto the king of Moab, let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth and be with you till I know what God will do for me. Heavenly father, I pray you speak to us by your word. Every person in here, whether we recognize it or not, needs fresh bread from heaven. And Lord, I can't feed your sheep. You have to do it by the power of your Holy Spirit and the mighty working of your word. Rid me of any selfishness, pride, empty me of myself and fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to be your preacher for a little while. Open your word tonight and let me be able to preach as you would see fit. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Imagine with me just for a moment. All you really want to do is get away. You're tired of everybody, or maybe you're just scared. You just gotta get away. You gotta hide out. You gotta find some refuge. You gotta get tucked away. This is how David feels. Well, you get tucked away. You get hidden away. You get in the best spot there is to get away from everybody. You sit there, I don't know how long, but you sit there a length of time, and there comes a guy in there, and he's in debt. He comes in there, he's just in debt. He's so bad in debt, the law actually gonna kill him. The law says he's dead. You know, the law says that he's getting so much debt, he deserves to be dead. He comes along, he's such a happy camper too. So excited about all that's fell for him, he's in debt. He's a happy, joyful guy. I'm being sarcastic, okay? Can't figure that out. And then he gets in there with you, and all along you just wanted to be alone. Who's ever done that before? You said, I just wanna be in my room by myself, and then all your brothers and sisters come in. Your wife comes bothering you, and your husband comes and bothers you. Yeah, okay, all right. Or all six kids. Everybody relates to this, right? Okay, okay. But this is a little more serious, isn't it? He's escaping Saul. and all his men. And he gets tucked away in the cave of Adullam. But it's more than Saul. He's getting tucked away because he's not been really being a good boy in 1 Samuel chapter 22. He's really being deceptive about the whole thing. He's tucked away. He's tucked away. And that one guy that's in debt, that one guy that's in debt, He shows up and he kind of likes being there so he goes and gets another guy that's in distress. These are all in the passage of scripture. So he gets a guy that's distressed and he shows up and he kind of likes being there too. They just kind of grow in a company together and the guy that's in distress, he goes out and he grabs a couple more. But this guy, they're in debt too, and distressed, or whoever else it is. And I'm telling you, they start all getting their buddies to come together. All of a sudden, that lonely cave becomes a crowded cave. Now, I don't know how it all happened. You have to use your sanctified imagination. That's probably not how it really did happen, but nothing says it didn't happen that way. You know, the Bible says something. You might need to hear this. I don't know. It never said that Jesus laughed. They never said that Jesus laughed. And people that are so spiritual say, you know, Jesus never laughed, so we need to be real serious. Well, he told me rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. It didn't say laugh, but I think Jesus, if you met him, I think he was pretty joyful. He probably wasn't happy-go-lucky, but I think he smiled, and a merry heart doth good like a medicine. Sometimes you have to think between the scriptures and not make it too much of it, but I just kind of like to think of things. He's all there by himself, and they're coming in here one right after another, and all along he just wanted to be alone, and he's got the best guys in the whole wide world. The ones that are in debt, ones that are discontented. Don't you love being around somebody that's not happy? Discontented. You say anything to them, and they're gonna go to the, weather's terrible. I just told you what happened, but the weather's terrible. And you tell them something good that's happened in America, but man, the political scene in America, whoa, I just tried to encourage you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've met that person before. Just always turn it, these guys were not who you'd wanna be alone with. They weren't your happy, funny uncle. These guys were in debt, right? Actually, the Bible's alliterated. They're in debt, they're discontented, and they're distressed, right? They got problems. They got issues. And all he's trying to do is get away from it. There is a God in heaven. There is a God in heaven. You don't plan anything at all and here comes these people. There is a God in heaven and all of a sudden His family shows up. He hadn't seen His family since chapter 17 and now they show up. Number one tonight, let's look at this hiding. We're talking about a captain in the cave. The Bible says he became a captain over these 400 guys, right? A captain in a cave. A captain was made in a cave. He got his army in a cave of just a bunch of nobodies. A captain in the cave. The captain in the cave. First of all, this captain and his hiding. He just wanted to get away. A dulum actually means refuge. This was David's refuge. He couldn't go to his house. He couldn't go to the palace. He couldn't go to Samuel. He definitely wasn't going to Saul. He wasn't going to Jonathan. He couldn't go to the house of the Lord. He didn't need to go to the ungodly, and he almost did, close enough to it, in chapter number 22. So he just went to a humble cave to find refuge, a dulum. But the cave wasn't what David needed. What he needed was what God put in the cave while he was there. And we can have our plans to go somewhere, some place, but God's got a plan to lead us there even though we're not even in the perfect situation to follow God, God can somehow get us somewhere. to put people in our lives to teach us things we need to know for the future. I think of young people. I think of myself. Nowhere in my right mind would I have been able to make a decision at 18 years old on where I had to go spend my next four years in Bible college. My dad trusted me, gave me some advice, and I made the decision on my own, I'm gonna go here. God spoke to my heart, and he led me there. To say that I was in the perfect will of God, and I knew it was the perfect will of God, no, uh-uh. I didn't know how to walk with Jesus when I was 18, who you kidding? No young person really has it figured out. God's merciful and gracious. And He knows how to direct our steps. It's not about us following God, it's about Him directing our steps. He puts us in the places. And God put me in that place, which was the right place. It wasn't necessarily my choosing or It wasn't my will, it was God's direction. There's nowhere in my right mind would have I wanted to go to that place even to start with, but God put that desire in my heart, and now look what He's done because He led me there, and this is just my life. He led me there to a place where I could hear good Bible preaching. He confirmed the call of God for me to preach. I hadn't surrendered to preach yet. If I would have went somewhere else, I don't believe I would have surrendered to that call like I would have at Crown College, And I met your pastor's wife, my sweetheart, April, and we've been happily married all these years. Haven't even had one fuss yet. Isn't God good? You see what I'm talking about though? Seriously. We're in the way and God leads us to a place that we can meet other people that shape and mold our lives. Now Crown's not a cave, but I'm telling you, God somehow oversees all things to get us to places where people are at that we need. And that hiding was more than just, David was hiding, but in God's providence, he saw fit to put his family back together in that cave. God'll put you in a cave to put your family back together. He'll get you running away. He'll get you spinning around like a termite in a yo-yo to get you to a place, to get you to a cave to put your family back together. And I know each of you love your family a lot. You'd say, whatever it takes, Lord. If it takes a cave, if it takes a saw to get my family back together, to get my family saved, whatever it takes, I'll pay the price. God works in the circumstances to get to the cave of Dulem and to be with those 400 men. He's hiding. What's He say when He hides? You can turn with me to Psalm 57. Hold your finger as I hold my finger and turn with me to what He says when He's in the cave. We believe it to be best understood that Psalm 57 is a cave psalm. If it's not, it still applies good. He says, Psalm 57, be merciful unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. Boy, these calamities, he said, they gotta get over. Till they get overpassed, please be merciful unto me. I will cry unto the God most high. unto God that performeth all things for me. I love that phrase. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me, Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. My soul is among lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have digged a pit before me into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves, Selah. My heart is fixed, O God. My heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory. Awake, sultry heart. I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above the earth. He reminded himself as he prayed, he said, God performed with all things for me. He said, they've got a net for me. My soul is among lions. Their tongue is a sharp sword. Their teeth are like spears and arrows, he said. But my heart is fixed. In 1 Samuel 22, we see he's hiding. He's in secret. He's alone. He's in one of the worst hours he's ever been in his life, and he's praying to God. Let me give you a little secret. We do the best in prayer when we are at the worst in life. We do the best in prayer when we are at the worst in life. We'd like to not admit that, but we're probably just that bad, aren't we? When we're in the worst in life, we probably do the best in prayer. And David's in one of those situations and sometimes in the cave we realize that God has a purpose for us. And we realize that God has to teach us some things. Let's talk about his guests. Not only his hiding but now his guests. Who comes to visit him? We talked about them. Those in distress. those in debt and those discontented. But who else? His family. Verse 1. His brethren and his father's house heard it. They went down thither to him. Sometimes, somehow, word leaked out and they found out that David was in trouble. Boy, a lot has changed since chapter 17. Since the day little David appeared in that valley to watch Goliath. Much had transpired since that day. But somehow they heard of the hatred and the evil that was in the heart of Saul for David and they came to help. And they gather in around. And we're going to talk about how David cared for his family later on. And then other people roll in. Now, I might have in my imagery to begin the sermon might have gave it to you wrong. The family was with them. Then came the 400. Then they started leaking in. That's an interesting thing to think about because I'm thinking to myself, hey, I'm fixing here having a family reunion. I mean, we got the turkey and dressing out. What are you doing here? You know, they're getting everything put back together. Then the guys come in. David was looking for something miraculous and here come these strangers. David was looking for something supernatural. Here comes these nobodies. Let me tell you something. When you're looking for the miraculous, God will sometimes use the ordinary to open up your eyes to what He needs for you to see. We like the light shows, but sometimes God just uses the common things. The nobodies, the ones that are in debt, discontented, and distressed. That no flesh should glory in His presence. 1 Corinthians chapter number 1. The nobodies. David was looking for something miraculous and God used somebody that was ordinary to touch him. And that's how Works in our lives. And by the way, David would have never chose this company. I don't think David would have chose this company. I don't think you would have either. They weren't attractive by the world's standards. They weren't powerful. They weren't influential. They were rather weak and despised. But here he is with them. Sometimes God uses people that we wouldn't expect in our lives to bring us to the place that we need to be. Just keep listening. I never cease to be amazed how God uses one life, one individual. These guys are not the people you think God would use to be an army, to David, to be a captain over there. They're the worst of the worst. They're negative Nancys. They're goners. They're the bottom of the barrel. You see what I'm talking about? Nobody would have thought that. Let me tell you what, we're all different. We've all got baggage. We've all got problems. But somehow when we get in the cave, verse number two, and gather ourselves together, we all start realizing we're all alike. Notice that word gathered themselves. That's a church word. That's an ecclesia word. I don't think they had church in there, but it sure does remind me of church. When we come right into the assembly and we gather ourselves together, we realize you can be discontented, and another one can be in debt, and another one can be distressed, and we all need, really, the captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. We all have one thing in common or two things in common. We have a great need, but we have a greater captain. Amen? That's what happened. I think in David's life and it never ceases to amaze me how God uses people in spite of all the baggage that we've got We've all got problems. We've all got issues and God's grace has been sufficient and God's mercy has been mighty But he uses us in spite of our distress discontentment, whatever you want to call it Whatever it is, God's still using you. You're an individual. You've got problems. You've got issues. You've got setbacks. You've got weaknesses. You've got age against you or you've got youth against you. Everybody can use some sort of excuse, right? We're all a unique individual. If God wanted somebody else to pastor this church, he'd already had one here already. He's got me here. If God wanted somebody else to pastor this church, he would have not kept me here for 18 years, but God kept me here. I mean that from the bottom of my soul. God kept me here. There's a lot better people, a lot better preachers, a lot better shepherds, but he hadn't got anybody else here, and he chose fit to use an old redneck from Arkansas that grew up in the sticks to pastor a church in a city. If he wants somebody else, guess what? He can do it in a moment. He'll get somebody else to pastor it. But as long as he keeps me here with all that I've got against me, I'm gonna still do my best for the glory of God. He can go get somebody else just like that because he's God, isn't he? And you're the same way. He's got you where you're at, what you're doing, all the things that you feel like are against you, heavy against you. He's still got a purpose for your life, and you're an individual that God saved by the glory of God, and He wants to use you. And one ministry we can all get in, and I don't want to preach that sermon again I preached three months ago, but one ministry we better all get involved in is the cave ministry. There's people that get tucked away and hit away and those 400 men came inside there and they had a cave ministry together. People are scared. They're discouraged. They're troubled. And I'm telling you what, you can help more people at a hospital bed than you can at a pulpit. One hospital visit, you know this Preacher Hinkle, one hospital visit will do more good than a thousand sermons. One hospital visit will do more than 100 Sunday school lessons. The cave ministry. Everybody tracking or is everybody nervous? You shouldn't be nervous. You know that's true. Your pastor's been to you before, me or somebody else, and that's when you really get the help that you need because you're in that cave. His guests were his family and strangers. There's not one person, no matter what they've got against them, that's not important to God. And here they all are gathered together. It's a beautiful thing to see the gathering among our church people. I want to talk about this captain, his hiding, his guests, now his influence. I don't know how it all went down. I don't know if he started leading singing. I don't see he started leading singing. I don't know if he used the old church hymnal or I don't know if he used the soul stirring. I don't even know if he led singing. I don't know if he preached. I don't know if he read something out of the Pentateuch. I don't know if they all just pouted for a while and then started praying. Sometimes you just got to spill things out to people when you're that way. He did a lot of that in the Psalms, didn't he? Who's ever needed a friend before that'll listen to you pout? Nobody raised their hand. They were pretty bad off, weren't they? And maybe they just spilled it all out and then they said, you know what, we ought to be doing. We shouldn't probably be pouting anymore. God's been pretty good to us. Why don't we just pray? But whatever he did, it worked. Because he's not looking like a king in the cave right about now. He's hiding. And he's not the king yet. I don't know what he did, but he influenced them. And by the way, no man liveth unto himself and no man dieth unto himself. Every person in this room has a tool in their tool bag. It's influence. You influence somebody wrong or right. David didn't lead by force or manipulation. I'm quite certain these men were bad off, and when men are bad off enough, and they get to the place, you ever met somebody before they got to the place, they get to the place where they're so discontented, so distressed, so much in debt, that they really don't even want any help to even start with. They're so bad, they can't even barely see the light at the end of the tunnel. You know, people like that, they can see fake a thousand miles away. They want something that's real. They want somebody that's genuine. David must have cared. He must have, obviously, he invited them in or you wouldn't have got a pile of them to start with. The next buddy would have not told the next buddy to come on in if he wasn't invited first to come in. Look up here. What about that church house? What about this church house? Other people are inviting other people to come in this place because they know when they come here, they're going to be invited in the church. They're going to be welcomed. That's why people are bringing other people on Sunday morning and Sunday night. We're seeing it because when they come here, they're meeting some people in the cave that are friendly and helpful and encouraging. Don't dare stop it because people need encouragement. You understand that? And when people don't invite other people to the church, that church is fixing to die. If you've got no confidence to bring somebody to your local church, God help me, really, it's dying. Why'd they keep coming, brother? Why'd they end up with 400 in attendance on Sunday morning? Isn't that good? Because the first one said, David, he loves a fellow over there. And then the next one and the next one and the next one. And after a while they had a record-breaking Sunday, 400. You heard about Moody, right? Moody's church. Little boy passed by the deacons of another church over and over and over and over again. And finally on one Sunday morning as this boy was going to Moody's church, finally one of those deacons on the front porch said, little fellow, why do you keep going all the way down there and pass our church every single Sunday morning to go all the way down there to Mr. Moody's church? It's a bigger church. Why do you always go down there? He said, because down there at Mr. Moody's church, they know how to love a fellow down there. It don't just work for children. It works for grown folks too. Sure. Cave minister. That's what it's called. I knew I was going to get on that cave ministry again. Who remembers that cave ministry sermon? Make me feel good, just raise your hands and lie. Alright? But he had influence. How do you know that? Look at this in verse 2. The Bible says, he became a captain over them. And there were with him about 400 men. He became a captain over them. He didn't force himself to be the captain. He just became a captain over them. Influence. unto him." The Bible says, they gathered themselves, verse 2, unto him. I'm not trying to make too much of it, it just seems so natural. David was the captain in the cave, but he didn't force his leadership. Saul, on the other hand, is a whole different fellow. He gets all upset, gets so mad he's going to kill all those prophets in this chapter. He says here when he finds out that others knew, he says in verse 7, read this along with me. Then said Saul unto his servants that stood about him, Here now, ye Benjamites, will the son of Jesse, he doesn't even call him David, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, that all of you have conspired against me. All of you have conspired against me. And there is none that showeth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse. And there is none of you that is sorry for me." Listen to this big old man saying, there's nobody sorry for me. Pity, pity, pity poor big old Saul. And showeth unto me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait as at this day. And then he goes on to kill all those prophets. Two totally different leaders. David versus Saul. David's leadership style was pity me and force. Whereas I believe that David just allowed people to come into his presence in that cave and he just loved them as he was, as they were. I got to wonder something here real quick before we go to the next point. I wonder how much David learned about people. that he was fixing the lead while he was in that cave. He learned about people and their problems. But you know what he learned more than anything else? He learned even though I'm anointed to be king, I'm just like everybody else. I'm no different. We've all got problems. Because he came in there, I don't know if he was in debt, but I know he was distressed. And he found out in the cave when those boys came in one by one, I'm no better than them. I got problems just like them. So we all on the same level. And when leadership doesn't learn that, it'll be dictatorship. And here it's not that way. They easily come into David's presence, 400 of them. Do people sense that? The children climbed up on Jesus' lap, didn't they? See there? They sensed that. That's His influence. Now I want to talk to you about His care. In verse 3, in verse number 3, And David went thence to Mizpah of Moab, and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth and be with you till I know what God will do for me. And he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold." Not only his influence, but now his care for his family. David takes care of his parents and gives direction to the king of Moab to help till I know what God will do with me. And all the while he stayed there in verse number four. While David was in hold, he's going to be given direction to leave here shortly by the prophet, but right now he doesn't know what to do. Dr. Clarence Sexton said, we say loudly what we believe about God by the way we treat other people. We say loudly what we believe about God by the way we treat other people, especially our parents. The Bible puts a curse on you if you don't honor your father and your mother. Obey your parents and it will be well with thee. And David is seen here caring for his parents as he ought to. Even though he's in a bad spot, he makes sure that he takes care of them. Throughout all of life, we're grateful for the times that we have with family. I've missed my family, and I don't need pity. I've missed my family for over 15 years. I miss my mom and dad. I'd like to tell you, I love my parents. I'd love for them to be right here. If they wanted to come, we'd just put them right up over there in that house, wouldn't we? We'd have no problem with that. Stay right there. I love them. But I tell you what, when you go through a cave like a dulem, it sure is good to have your family right next to you. And this is really the grace of God, you know that? Because David nor them did anything right to reconcile it until right now. Really. If you have something wrong in your home, you have something wrong with your mom and dad, brothers and sisters, don't be so foolish and not make it right. Pick up the phone, call them, get in their presence, and do the right thing. Say the words you need to say. Say, I'm sorry, if you need to say you're sorry. Get things right before there comes a situation that you regret one day and you say, it's been too late. That's why funerals are so sad for most people, because of that. But he cared for them. Now, I love what he said here. He said in verse three he said let my father and my mother I pray they come forth and be with you till I know what I shall do till we all need this kind of faith. Verse four, all the while that David was in hold, he was in a waiting stage. I've got till circled in verse three, till I know what God will do for me. Look here, who's ever been in a spot before you just don't know what God's going to do for you. You don't know how God's going to work it all out. You're in a stock spot and you're just saying in your heart, I'm just going to trust the Lord till I know what God will do for me. Raise your hand. Sure. You've been there before. Yeah. We all need this kind of faith where you say by your actions, you say by your actions what your heart is believing, I know God's gonna see me through this, I'm just gonna wait on him. Don't get hasty, just wait on God. More bad decisions have been made because they've been made in haste instead of waiting on God. One hot afternoon a certain woman, walked to her neighbor's produce stand to buy grapes. The line was long and each person seemed to get special attention. So she just waited patiently. Finally she made it to the front of the line to get her grapes and the owner asked for order and she asked for grapes and the owner said, please excuse me for just a minute and just walked away. The woman was frustrated. Everybody else got special attention. I finally get here after waiting this whole time. And then he's just going to say, wait a second. It's like calling up on the phone. Pause that right there. It's like calling up on the phone. You call somebody up. They pick up the phone and they say, just one second. I'm thinking, why did you even pick up the phone if you're going to tell me just one second? Who understands what I'm talking about? OK, that's just not good customer service at all. That's what happened to this lady. He said, just one second, and leaves. She's frustrated. She felt like the owner didn't regard her at all, didn't feel like the owner treated her like everybody else, and the longer she waited for him to come back, the more anger she got. Finally, the produce stand owner reappeared with a big smile and presented her with the most beautiful, big grapes she had ever seen. He invited her to taste them, and she tasted the grapes, and they were delicious. He said it was the best grapes she'd ever, ever had before, and she walked away. And loudly he said, Ma'am, I want to say I'm sorry I kept you waiting. I had to go out back and pick them off the best vines. What do we mean by this? What do we mean by this? What does God want to teach us? God always gives the best to those that wait on Him. Don't get frustrated with God. Don't get weary of waiting. Those that wait, those that wait get the best from God. But those that don't wait on God and get hasty and make the decision themselves, you know, you gray heads know, excuse me, that that always leads up bad, amen? Wait on God and let Him give you the best. You young people, wait on God for that best person, that person in the will of God. Say, you gotta bring that up. Yeah, I'm your pastor and I love you. If you marry the wrong one, you can have heartache the rest of your life. All you gotta do is make the wrong decision once and it can be headache the rest of your life. Wait on God. God always gives the best to those that wait on Him. A person of faith doesn't need the answers. But he knows God. Faith in God cannot see the beginning from the end. You don't need to know how it all is going to work out. Faith doesn't need the answers. Faith just needs to trust God. Some of you are looking for an answer and that's real. I want some answers for some things. But God says just wait on me. Wait on me. Wait on the Lord and be of good courage. And then we'll wrap it up with this. Not only we saw how he had this faith and his care for his family, but now his obedience. So he's saying right now, I'm just gonna hang around for a little while in this holding, verse 4, and look who shows up in verse 5. Would somebody be bold enough to read the first three words really, really loud? Some man read the first three words of verse five really loud. Go figure. Here comes the man of God. After he just said, I'm going to hang around a little while and see what God will do for me. Here comes the message from the Lord. Let me tell you something, friend. It's a preaching time coming on right now. When you make up your mind, you're gonna wait on God. God will not play hide-and-go-seek with you. He will tell you exactly what you need to hear. But we've got to get to the place where we're willing to wait on God and hear what He has for us. That's the hard part, getting to the place where we've got open ears and the Bible says, and the prophet Gad said unto David, abide not in the hold. No, don't stay here no longer, move. The prophet knew because the prophet knows God that Saul was fixing to know. And that's what we read in the next verses. Now there's nothing special about me. I've already told you I'm just a redneck from Arkansas. But every true man of God, whether he's young or old, has a pastor's perception if he's walking with God. And I'd trust it if I were you. I shouldn't command you to do anything unless it's out of this book right here, amen? But I might counsel you, or any other man of God might counsel you, and if it's according to the Word of God, that's what I do. And David, the one that knew he was anointed to be king, right? And everything started going better. Seems like things are being put together. obeyed the prophet, his obedience. It's interesting to see the prophet shows up just exactly as David says those words, "'Til I know what God will do for me.' The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto wise counsel A harketh unto counsel is wise. The Bible says in Proverbs 11, 14, where no counsel is the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Proverbs 19, hear counsel and receive instruction that you might be wise in the latter end. Proverbs 15, 22, without counsel purposes are disappointed, but in the multitude of counselors they are established. The counsel, wisdom comes from this prophet and David obeys him and he goes to the forest Herath in verse number 5. And then Saul heard that David was discovered in verse number 6. David, as a captain over the 400, was still able to listen to the prophet when the prophet showed up and obeyed the man of God. Let's review four things and we'll be done. Number one, remember who the captain really is. The captain's really not David. The captain's Jesus Christ and He wants to show up for you in your cave and be there for you. Number two, when you're in the cave, accept others who come in your cave because they didn't come of their own choosing. God probably sent them in there. You might be going through a rough time right now and you need that person that's half crazy. Because we're all half crazy, say amen. We're all discontented. We're all distressed. We're all in debt. We all need the captain. Accept others who come into your cave. Number three, we learned tonight, stay put until God gives you clear direction. Stay right there. David said, I'm going to stay in this hold until I know what God will do for me. And then God sent his prophet, the prophet of Gad, the prophet Gad, and directed him. Stay put until you get clear direction. And then obviously, follow the prophet's instruction. Follow the word of God. That's what the prophet says. He foretells. And then follow the prophet's direction. Maybe you're in a cave tonight. You're in a hard spot, a tough spot. Maybe you needed this message. Well, God's got some people probably next to you that you can receive and help in the cave and you can help them. Maybe you've got to follow some instructions that God's been giving you. Maybe through this pulpit, maybe through the word of God you've been reading. Maybe you don't have any direction yet. Sometimes God will freeze you. He'll say, just hold tight. And in those holding times, God draws us closer to him. The captain was made in the cave. Every head bowed, every eye closed. Thank you for listening tonight. I hope these random thoughts were a blessing and a help to you this evening. As you stand with me, have somebody come to the piano, please. Think about your life and where you're at right now. Where God's got you. is not an accident. There's no accidents with God. God is always primary, meaning by that He's the one in control of all things in your life. And He might have you in this spot right now, and you're wondering why. And maybe tonight you realize, well, maybe He wants me in this cave to be part of a cave ministry because other people are in this with me. Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word. I pray we'd learn what we need to learn while we're in the ministry of hard times. Help others and allow others to help us as well. Help us to be sensitive to you while we're in the cave. Care for our family and also listen to your word and your direction. Help us to be right there in the center of your will and not move until you say move. Help us to be safe in that way. Thank you for your word tonight. Bless your people. Strengthen them by thy word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Maybe you need to come forward tonight. You've got a need. Slip out and talk to the Lord about it. He's the captain. He's the leader. He's the Lord. He's in control. He's got you right where you need to be. He hadn't made a mistake. No, he hadn't. He's got you right where you need to be. Trust him. Wait patiently on him. He'll strengthen your heart.