Ministry of Caves

Recently I went through a difficult situation with another person. I felt hopeless, like there was no solution, no way out, there was no light to guide me through the difficulty....it felt as if I was stuck in a cave!

We  all experience times of difficulty during our walk with Christ. We find ourselves in situations where everything appears hopeless, as if we are in the dark and the solution is impossible to find. But how do we actually respond in these situations. From my personal experience, the initial reaction I had was of hopelessness. I couldn't see what I could do to fix things. I wanted to give up. This can very easily be your response in this times of trouble. But these is another way we can respond, we can respond to our situation with discipline!!

Psalm 57 talks about this. It was written by David while he was hiding from Saul inside a cave. He starts by crying out to God for mercy

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge.I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.

This is likened to us when we are in hard times, we cry out to God, but they way in which we cry out determines God's response to us. In these situations, can we rule our spirit and rise up in faith?

Caves in our own lives can come in different shapes and forms. It may be in the workplace, it may be in our relationships with others, it may be in our relationship with our wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend. We may be having trouble finding employment, a place to live, money to pay the bills...we all will experience our own cave situation, but how do we respond? We must respond with discipline and in faith!!

The first step to achieve this is to ensure we get our God focus. Its no good allowing ourselves to end up in the cave and then go searching for His word. We must have God's word preloaded, we must be prepared with His word, ready to speak out in the troublesome time. Hebrews 4:12 says

For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

God's word is alive and full of power, what an awesome and inspiring promise that is! When we find ourselves inside the cave, we must be prepared with the promises of God, so that we can speak them out. Psalms 119:105 states:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

This is exactly the kind of thing we can hold onto in these dark moments, God will guide us, He is a light for our path. When we go into the darkness preloaded, it won't overwhelm us, there will be light, a hope. This will help us find a path out of the cave, out of the hard time.

But another thing we must learn is to speak to our spirit. The promises of God are powerful, but in order to claim them, we must speak them out! We can not be quiet, reserved, timid or doubtful, but rather be vocal in our response. We must claim the promises given to us. James 1:5-8 says

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. 

We cannot doubt the word of God, as this shows we are easily tossed and blown, unstable in our endeavours. But instead we are called to trust His mighty word, claiming the many promises he has declared to us!

Another trap we may fall in is waiting for the right timing. We may think that the time in our life is not right, the circumstances dont suit us, you dont feel comfortable doing it today, maybe its better if done later. This is all wrong! We must rise up now, not wait for the right timing because the right timing is now. For if we wait, we will find that we never leave the cave

We must learn to speak out Gods word to our heart and mind. Just as it says in Romans 10:10

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

We must spend less time reasoning and more time claiming the promises. For good has made a plan for us and no amount of reasoning from our small minds will do better that the perfect purpose God has set out for us.

We will all come into a cave, but will we let ourselves give up hope or will we demonstrate a discipline response. Will we go through life unprepared for the cave experience, or will we be prepared with God's word? We must know how to speak to our hearts the promises of God. We must not delay in our response. For God is a light to us when everything else appears dark, lost, hopeless. We must always hold onto his word, just as David speaks in Psalm 27

THE LORD is my Light and my Salvation--whom shall I fear or dread? The Lord is the Refuge and Stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid?