There are God ordained seasons of isolation in most of our life. God uses these times of loneliness to accomplish growth in us that cannot be accomplished any other way. Some people understand the ways of God and seek to co-operate with him when he leads them into a period of isolation. Others wander in confusion for years, without understanding. They are confused, hurt, and eventually end up bitter toward God and cynical toward people. God uses isolation to prepare us for change and to challenge our inner scripts. He also expose the lies we believe about ourselves and about him. In some people’s lives He uses this opportunity to test them ,and in the process of testing He teach them His ways.
David was thrown out of Saul’s court to live in the Cave of Adullam! All seemed lost. Who would he lead now? How would he exercise his talents and fulfill the vision now? How could God possibly use him in the desert? Here David learned how to overcome the system within his own heart. For the first time he got to be a true leader and to stand up for his convictions. The God did not make it easy for him either! Firstly the Lord turned the whole of Israel against David! Because of Saul’s rage, not a single man or woman was to mention the name of David. The priests that helped him were slaughtered! So there David is, no singing women, no hero-worshiping warriors. Just David, alone in the wilderness,. Then the Lord made it more difficult for David and brought him all the scoundrels and outcasts of the day as well as his own family members.
Imagine how hard it must have been to lead these undisciplined men! Haven’t you found that the Lord does this to you sometimes? He puts you in the worst of circumstances so that as you overcome those, you can face any other that come your way. So in the most unlikely of conditions the Lord now began to train David in earnest to become king over His people! In the cave and in the wilderness, David learned how to lead, he learned how to love and he learned how to sacrifice everything – presence in the court of the king, post of the chief commander, his army, his closest friend, even his own wife, – for the sake of the calling on his life. Did this make David king? Did this appoint David to office? No, this was simply a single step towards that great office!
Perhaps you have lived this part already. Not only did you leave the system – but you were chased out! No one was allowed to communicate with you. You were left alone with yourself and your family by your side. Perhaps you were worried for your children, perhaps you were lonely and felt rejected. But do you now realize that it is here that the Lord will train you to become his chosen future leader to touch and take over the nations ?
God bless you abundantly and make you a blessing to so many across the globe.
