‘For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance’. Psalm 66:12
Let us consider this question that has continued to ring through the ages: why must those called to higher purposes have to suffer and endure all sorts of difficulties? Not even Jesus the son of God could escape this perplexing equation.
Jesus, talking about his own journey says, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
Concerning this concept Jesus warned those who will follow him saying, ““I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Now we may no have an answer to this perplexing question but one thing we do know is that every individual God used mightily throughout Scripture went through seasons of hardship.
Moses had to flee his family who wanted to kill him, Elijah had people seeking his death, Queen Esther risked her life in order to save the Jewish people, Jesus’ disciples were all martyred for their commitment to Christ and our Savior was beaten and crucified for us.
David before ascending the throne as the anointed one suffered many things in the hands of King Saul.
Looking at David’s life and struggles we should settle it in our mind that our suffering has a purpose. In fact, some have considered that the struggles of David before he became King foreshadows the rejection and future crowning of Jesus Christ, the son of David, as the King of the world.
The suffering of David and Jesus therefore had a purpose. Apostle Paul knew this and declared in Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
From the lives of David and Jesus we can take away the following lessons in understanding our own spiritual journey:
Whatever God calls us to do, He prepares us to do. God used a lot of trials to prepare David for the throne. David for example hid in the Cave of Adullam while on the run from Saul and some bible scholars have described David’s experience in this cave as his Spiritual Seminary and Spiritual Bootcamp.
David had to be mentored by God through lives’ experiences before he would be made a King and a great tool in the hand of God. Soldiers would always have to be tutored and trained in military academies and are not immediately rushed to the battlefield.
His trials and sufferings therefore had a purpose. Before anyone can be useful in the hand of God he must be taken to the place of fiery trials.
The Psalmist says ‘For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried’. Psalm 66:10. Why is this so, because everything in us, which is of the flesh, which would hinder the work of God in our lives must be consumed by the refining fire of God.
In Malachi 3:3 we read ‘He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord’.
Part of the maturing process in the life of any Christian is learning how to cope with the dark, dreary, depressing and discouraging times in our life.
While in this spiritual bootcamp, three Psalms were written by David that gives us key insights into his life while in the cave.
In Ps. 34 David is on his Feet, In Ps. 142 David is on his Face; In Ps. 57 David is on his Knees. In several verses in these Psalms, David reflected, confessed, agonized, and cried out.
In Psalm 142: 3, we clearly see that David was under tremendous pressure saying “My spirit was overwhelmed within me” -David’s spirit was devastated. Sometimes fiery fire of trials seems to be the calling of a Christian whether he likes it or not for he must be tried to come out as gold.
The believer is never alone in his trials. Even though David was despondent, isolated, and lonely, but we thank God that this situation did not crush him because he was not alone, God was with him in all his trials.
A preacher says: Sometimes when we are in a “cave experience”, we cannot accurately sort out our feelings. Feelings can be a little like our laundry. Sometimes, we can’t sort them until we dump them out.
The great truth is that when the believer is alone, he is never alone. He may be isolated from people, but he is never isolated from God. He may live by himself, but he is never unaccompanied. The Lord is always with the believer.
Isaiah 43:2 helps us to under the divine presence of God in all our trials, and God himself testifies of this “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you’.
David Prayed
In all his loneliness, something happened that changed David’s perspective and that gave millions of believers that would come after him a spiritual legacy, David prayed as we can see recorded in the several pages of the Psalms he penned down while in the cave of Adullam.
Beloved, our prayers in our trials are the enduring legacies we have before God, and before men and not our material benefits. When David felt overwhelmed he cried out to God. Twice in Ps.57:1 he says, “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful to me: for my soul trusteth in thee.” In like manner we would have to cry out for God’s mercy to see us through our own spiritual bootcamps of life.
Understanding the overall purpose of our calling
We had said that David’s trial and suffering represented the suffering and the eventual crowning of Jesus. Just as David’s men were removed from connection with Saul’s Kingdom to hide in the Cave of Adullam, so all who are led by the Holy Spirit to know and be united with the rejected Jesus, are, by reason of that blessed unity with Him, must be dissociated from worldly things by the way of trials.
Therefore, all who understand the true nature of the heavenly calling walk in separation from the world. ‘If we endure with him, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.’ (2 Timothy 2: 12)
Just as we have been called to endure with Christ through our calling away from the world, by reason of their association with him, David’s men were called to undergo much toil and fatigue.
But their love for David made everything easy; and their names and exploits were recorded and faithfully remembered when David was at rest in his kingdom. None were forgotten. 2 Samuel 23 provides the precious catalogue, and will, no doubt, lead us onward to the time when the Lord Christ shall reward His faithful servants.
And to us, as we run our own spiritual race, we should remember these words of Christ as prophesied by Isaiah “For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant. To them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever’. Isaiah 56:4-5
May we not be found wanting in Jesus’s name, Amen.
Reading
Romans 5:1-9
