As you may recall, David spent some time on the run in the cave of Adullam. It was the lowest point in His life, yet a necessary one ordained by God. The word 'Adullam' comes from the Hebrew root word dalah, which means to dangle at the end of one's rope. Adullam was the place where David was dangling at the end of his rope - hiding from Saul. It served as a place of testing, growing and learning for David, so he could be prepared to go onto to the next phase of life and ministry.
1 Samuel 22:4 says: "And [David] brought [his parents] before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold." David's life was not only in the hold, but also on hold (the back burner). Without Adullam, David's time of testing and preparation, he would not have been adequately prepared to reign as king. The same is true of us. We have our own Adullams that God places us in and these seasons can either make us or break us.
Some might say that God would never allow us to be broken during our time in Adullam, however, the choice of what Adullam becomes to us, what it teaches us and how we receive it, is up to us, as it was with David.
The Hebrew word for "hold" (as in 1 Samuel 22:4) is m-s-d and it appears as masad, matsad, or masodah (remember that originally Hebrew was a consonantal language and therefore there were no vowels until they were added only about a thousand years ago). The word masada means "fortress" or "stronghold"; however the word masuda (closely related to the word masada, and both words are derived from m-s-d) has an entirely different meaning. Masuda means "snare" or "trap".
David had the choice in the hold of Adullam to make it either a masada (fortress/stronghold) or a masuda (snare/trap). Our time of testing (Adullam) becomes a masada if we chose to rejoice and find God and His purposes in that place, despite our circumstances. It can, however, easily become a masuda if we fail to comprehend God's greater purposes and allow our hearts to become bitter and filled with doubt and unbelief.
For David, Adullam became the place where he ministered into many peoples' lives, the place where God created Israel's most powerful and loyal army, and where God taught David the foundational principles He would need to become Israel's greatest king.Yet, Adullam could, just as easily, have become a place of obscurity and purposelessness for David. It was David's choice. What caused David to make his Adullam a masada instead of a masuda? It all came down to David's response to the situation and his perspective.
Psalm 142:1-2 says about David during this dark hour: "I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before Him; I shewed before Him my trouble."
When David cried out to the Lord, he used the Hebrew word , za'aq, which means "to shriek from anguish or fear". The Hebrew word for "showed" ['shewed' in Psalm 142:2 King James version] is nasad, which means to make abundantly clear". This was the turning point for David.When David wrote Psalm 142, it was during his early days at the cave of Adullam. As he spent more time there and allowed God to teach him, he gradually understood God's purposes for this appointed season and yielded to Him, allowing God to do His perfecting work.
By do so, David turned Adullam into the the greatest strength of his life and ministry. He learned to hear from God, to trust, to rest secure in His God during a very difficult hour. He also learned to be faithful. David emerged a different man from Adullam than when he first went in.
The lessons of Adullam were not lost on King David - they impacted him for the rest of his life. He took the faith and yieldedness he gained in the cave and brought that same heart and experience when he ascended the throne and thereafter ruled over the people of Israel as king and as a man after God's own heart.
God has an Adullam for each of us. It is our appointed place and time to be on the back burner (not in the forefront or in the spotlight) so God can teach us and prepare us for the time in which we are to reign in whatever ministry He has destined for us. The question is if we have the yieldedness and perseverance to allow God to do His work in us until it is completed for that season. The answer lies in what we make of our Adullam, if we let it become a masuda or chose to make it a masada.
When we understand how God used the cave of Adullam in King David's life, we see His intended purpose for our 'Caves of Adullam' experiences - to build and prepare our lives for victorious living and service.
Psalm 138:8 says: "The Lord will fulfill His purposes for me; your love O Lord, endures forever - do not abandon the works of your hands".
Jeremiah 29:11 says: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".
The inspiration and information for the above article comes from a course I just completed titled "Training for Reigning" as taught by Dr. Ron Cottle of Beacon University, Columbus GA. The information contained in this article is, in great part, taken from Dr. Cottle's book titled Anointed to Reign, pages 49-60
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