Heart Series: Not a Thing Is Wasted | 1 Samuel 22:1–5

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Casey Kendall, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. We're in First Samuel chapter

1 Samuel 22 · chapter mention

22. If you have your Bible handy,

the Bible tells us in verse one of First Samuel 22.

Now David therefore departed there and escaped to The Cave of

a dulum. And when his brothers and all

his father's house heard it, they went down there to him, and

everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and

everyone who was discontented gathered to him.

And so he became captain over them.

And there were about 400 men with him.

And then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab.

And he said to the king of Moab, Please let my father and mother

come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.

So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt

with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

And then the prophet God said to David, do not stay in the

stronghold, depart and go to the land of Judah.

And so David departed and went into the forest of her wrath.

We've been journeying through the book of First Samuel for

quite some time, and I just want to give you a little bit of a

synopsis or a little bit of an overview of what we've been

studying. We know that there was in that

time a woman by the name of Hannah that was seeking out a

son. Her husband had another wife who

was having children, but she was barren.

At this time she's seen by Eli the priest praying at an altar

and there at this point in time, Eli thinks that Hannah is drunk

and she says, I'm just pouring my heart out before the Lord.

At that time Eli said to Hannah, you will bear a son, and what

Hannah wanted was a son for her family.

What God wanted was a prophet for the nation of Israel.

At that time Samuel was born. And at that time he hears the

voice of the Lord calling out to him.

And Eli says to him, go back and say to the Lord here I, I am.

We know that the nation of Israel at this point in time is

written in the context of the book of Judges, where the Bible

says that the nation of Israel was seeking a king like all the

other nations, and every man was doing that which was right in

his own eyes. We know that the book of First

Samuel focuses on three kings. The first king is a man by the

name of King Saul. The second king is a man by the

name of King David, pointing us to the greatest king of all,

King Jesus. We come to this point in time

where David has defeated Goliath.

Saul is jealous over David's victory and his popularity.

David is now going to be on the run for 10 to 12 years of his

life. He's already been anointed as

king, but he is running for his life.

If you would just stop, pause for a moment, look at your

neighbor and say neighbor, my neighbor.

Not a thing is wasted. Not a thing is wasted.

I want you to remember that statement, that line throughout

this whole sermon this morning, that God will waste nothing that

you go through and that you're facing today.

I want you this morning to meet Nash Keene.

I want you to meet this little baby boy.

And this little baby boy by the name of Nash Keene had found

himself as a very special baby because his story of survival

began last summer. He was delivered on July 5th of

2024 at a gestational age of 21 weeks.

That meant that he entered the world 133 days early, the Record

article said. For his birthday, he has been

named the most premature baby. His mother said this and I want

you to hear her words because it paints the context of what David

is facing. It feels surreal, honestly.

A year ago, we weren't sure what the future would look like.

And now we've celebrated his first birthday, adding it's

emotional in so many ways. Pride and gratitude.

Even, she says, some grief for how different his journey has

been. But above all, she says, it

feels like a victory now. This just isn't some woman's

experience. I believe that this is some of

your reality of your existence. I think some of us today, if we

were honest, the pain that you faced and the problems you've

had to walk through, the perplexity of where it is left

you today. You can feel the message of

these mothers, words of everything that you've gone

through in your life. You have felt the anxiety like

the mother where she said we weren't sure what the future

would even look like. Maybe it's not the anxiety that

you're feeling right now, but maybe for you right now, it's

the exhaustion that you're actually feeling right now.

It is the exhaustion of the mother's words.

It's emotional in so many ways. Maybe it's not the anxiety.

Maybe you're not sensing a place of exhaust question.

Maybe it's just straight agony for you.

She said these words in some grief for how different the

journey has been. And this has LED you to the

breaking point of your life. Because possibly for you today,

you don't feel like it's been a victory.

You feel like you're living in defeat this morning, and maybe

for you it has been the trauma of your family that you've been

facing. Maybe for you it's been the loss

of that job that you've been dealing with.

Maybe for you it doesn't really feel like that, but maybe the

effects of the cancer over your body.

Maybe for you it's been the pain of your marriage.

Maybe it's been the fear of your future.

Maybe for you, it's the loneliness of singleness.

That's a good spot for an Amen. Maybe for you, you've come into

this place. It's the heartbreak of the

breakup, it's the sin that has stained your past, and it's the

unknown future. It's the unloved heart.

It's the unseen person. And here in this place, I want

you to know that God not only has the power to create the

universe, but He has the power, power to transform your pain.

Today. Not a thing is wasted.

Nothing in my life will ever be wasted.

He takes the most unexpected places with the most unworthy

people who are facing the greatest unsolvable problems and

says not a thing is wasted. Not an ounce of your tears, not

one joy of laughter, not the pain of losing them.

Nothing in your life will ever be wasted.

Not one thing Scriptures full of people that we can see as an

example that God did not waste one thing about their life.

Look at it, if you would Jacob's limp, God did not waste.

Notice if you would Joseph with his dreams.

God did not waste Esther with all of her threats.

God did not waste Moses with his speech impediment.

God did not waste Ruth in her loss.

God did not waste Jeremiah with his weeping.

God would not waste it Elijah with his suicidal thoughts.

God would not waste it Job and his suffering.

God would not waste it Peter and his denial.

God did not waste it. The woman with her own issues of

blood, God would not waste it. Jesus hanging on a cross, God

would not waste it at all. So when you think today that

there are things that have been wasted, I want you to put this

sentence over that thought that while you're thinking that God

is wasting your days away, God is actually working on your days

ahead. And it's here in this point that

I want you to understand this because there's an interesting

verse in John chapter 6, verse 12.

John 6:12

The Bible tells us these words that when they had all had

enough to eat, he said to his disciples, Jesus did gather the

pieces that are leftover. Let nothing be wasted.

And with those broken pieces, God filled 12 baskets for 12

disciples. And with the broken pieces of

your life, God will use it to fulfill your purpose and His

plan, but He will also satisfy other people in your life.

Listen, men and women, nothing will be wasted.

Nothing will be wasted. I love what Chuck Swindoll

wrote. He said God wastes nothing.

Not your tears, not your setbacks, not even the cruelest

intentions of others. This doesn't minimize the pain

or excuse the wrongdoing of someone.

Evil is still evil, and injustice still matters.

But God's sovereignty means that even our deepest wounds can

become wells of wisdom for others.

Our our greatest betrayals can birth our strongest testimonies.

I want to read you that sentence again.

Our greatest betrayals can birth our strongest testimonies.

What painful chapter is God inviting you to trust Him, to

redeem for His glory and for others good?

That is exactly where David finds himself today.

If we were just to hit rewind on the chapter, we know that David

had found himself in a land called Gath, the enemy's

territory. And there David, the king who is

anointed and called and equipped and chosen by God, acts like

he's crazy and out of his mind. His testimony to the King of

Gath is why would I ever have this madman?

And here that is the story of David's life.

But that's not the end of David's life.

And here in the story, the Bible says that David departed and

David escaped. In verse one, the word departed

there means that David left this area.

And notice the action that David now finds himself in.

He escaped. He escaped the enemy.

So he's departing, he's escaping, and now he's running

and he goes to this cave of a doula.

Now, if we could just pause there for a minute, because I

think sometimes when we think of a cave, we're all facing cave

moments. This is not a resting place for

David. This is a wrestling place for

David. It's here in this place that

David's not in the court as king, but he's in a cave as a

fugitive. It's here in this moment that

David has left Gath as a madman, and he's departed and he's

escaped this area with a bad testimony, and he escapes with

all of his excuses, and he ends up in a dark den and a hole.

Is there really a better place where David could have found

himself? Now, when we think of The Cave

of a Dulum, we often think of this tiny little cave, but I

want to just give you a little heads up real quick on this.

The Cave actually looked like this.

And I don't know if you could see this that well with all the

lighting, but The Cave was a place that would house about 400

soldiers. Now, when we're thinking of

where David was, we're often thinking that David was in this

small cave tucked away, but he was in this huge cave right next

to the Valley of Elah. God puts David in a dark place

right next to his greatest victory, signifying that your

life is not just about your past victories, it's about his

present power. Because I think sometimes we

could talk so highly about the past that we could miss what God

wants to do in the present. But we want to go back to the

valley of Elah where God defeated Goliath.

But God is taking David on a journey, and David had to stop

in this dark place because the David who would come out of this

dark place was a better David who would even come out of the

valley of Elah. And because of that, God would

not waste the thing about David's life.

And here we end up in our own lives with all of our excuses.

It's here in this place, this cave of a Dulum.

And you could say Amen to this if you're here, That it's dark,

that it's dreary, that it's cold, old and moldy, and that

God in this spot puts David's life back together.

And God will often put you in a place that you don't want to be,

not for your punishment, but for your protection.

And you and I need to receive that.

That the king is in The Cave. Did did you hear me?

The king is in The Cave. If I was to rewind for you, this

book is not just about a man by the name of King Saul or a man

by the name of King David. This is all about King Jesus.

The king is in The Cave and never in your life equate your

adversity with his absence. The king is here in this cave,

and maybe you don't understand The Cave that you're in, but

maybe you find yourself here needing to praise him in the

thing that you don't understand about the one that you're

learning about. He's in The Cave of a Dulum.

We, we can't even say that word a dulum.

This is a tough word. I, I had to hit the Google

expression button for, for this word so I could pronounce it

right because I have Dora here. When I say Greek words, she

tells me, hey, that's not how you actually say that word.

So I want to make sure that I get these biblical words

correct. Amen.

And so we're here at a Dulum. We're gone from now, Gath, and

you're here today. And as we're here at this cave

of a Dulum, the first mention in scripture of a Dulum is back in

Genesis chapter 38. And it's there that this cave

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

is, or this place a Dulum is where Judah takes in a Dulumite

woman to be his wife. But this cave is right next to

the valley of Elah, and there David finds himself wondering

possibly if there even is a future for him to be king.

How could God use a man who created and caused such great

pain with Elimelech? How could God use a person who

has blown their testimony in front of their Co workers?

How could God even use a person with such a great stain upon

their life? This is why is that God wastes

nothing about what I face in my life.

So as you've come, I just want to remind you of a few things

that as we go through these verses that you can take home

with you because Monday is coming and Monday means the six

O 5 and the 2:10 Monday means more school and more tests, more

teachers and more bosses and more workers and more pressure

and more stress. I want you to remember when

you're in The Cave, you're either going in a cave or you're

coming out of a cave, but you can be sure The Cave is coming.

And what happens in The Cave never stays in The Cave.

I don't know. If you're tired on Labor Day

weekend, here's what I want you to remember.

He is preparing you in The Cave. He's preparing you in The Cave.

He is preparing you right now in The Cave.

David therefore departed from there, verse one, And he escaped

to The Cave of a Dulum. And when his brothers and all

his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.

And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in

debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him.

So he became the captain over them.

Yay. And there were about 400 men

with him, if you would get the picture.

David's in this huge cave, a hole, a dark place.

And now his family comes down because they're afraid of their

lives. But also 400 men find David.

Now I want you to understand what kind of men found were

finding, excuse me, David, men who were distressed, men who

were in debt and men who were discontented.

That's a great army. 400 of the people who are marginalized,

outcast, had problems, faced severe stress and anxiety and

just couldn't stand it anymore. And there David is, being

prepared by God. God will often put his greatest

soldiers in the hardest places. Abraham at an altar with his son

Isaac. Noah in an ark with animals for

40 days. You thought it was bad at your

house. Joseph in a prison.

Moses in Egypt. The children of Israel at the

Red Sea. Joshua at the Jordan.

Gideon with his army. Daniel in a lion's den.

Jonah in a well, Paul and Silas in a prison, and Jesus in a

tomb. I want you to hear this, that

God will often allow you to face situations similar to David.

Like he allowed David to experience victory, but he also

allowed David to experience The Cave.

Now I want the Valley of Elah, but I don't want The Cave of a

doula. I want to win, but in The Cave

it feels like I'm losing. God will often construct your

life differently in The Cave, and I want you to hear me with

all grace. It is not going to be easy.

I know we accepted Jesus and we've received His forgiveness.

I know we have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us.

But do not fall for the doctrine that just because you became a

follower of Jesus Christ, that meant your life was going to be

an easier road ahead of you. It often means that it might

even be harder in some situations.

But it is in this moment that God enlarges your heart.

He extends your shoulders and He strengthens your hands and He

opens your eyes to how great He is.

It is here that He is preparing you.

But I think often times we want quick victory, but what God is

producing is a long term and large vision.

And instead of quick victory, God wants you to have a larger

vision, not of the giants that you face, but of the God that

you worship. We need a bigger vision of what

God and who God is. Because if I have quick victory

without comprehensive vision, I will not be equipped for the

difficulties in the mission that God is putting me on.

It is the same God who was faithful and that David in the

valley of Elah. It is the same God who would be

faithful to meet David in The Cave of Adulum.

God did not change from the valley to The Cave, but David

did. And sometimes we think because

God has allowed a difficult circumstance in our lives, that

God has pulled the carpet out from underneath our feet and

we've lost the correct biblical vision of who God is.

I'm talking about God your Father, who the Bible says is

never against you, but is always for you.

But sometimes what God wants for you is greater than what you

want for you. And in that, that means that

God's alignment of your life is not always God's agreement with

your life. And sometimes God brings me to a

spot in my life where he aligns me to what he actually wants to

do in and through me. God is thinking legacy, and

we're often thinking lunch. God is often thinking of our

lives about your destiny. While we're often thinking about

our desire and how we can get it fulfilled right now, what we're

often thinking about is everything happening right now.

What God is preparing you for is what will happen next.

Did you see what God is doing? God is bringing us to a place

that we would understand in our lives.

That's the love of God that wants what's best for us.

But it's the wisdom of God that knows what's best for you, and

it's the power of God that will accomplish what's best for you.

Why did God take them out of your life?

Not to punish you, but maybe to protect you.

Why did God bring me to this place?

It was so much better in Egypt. But you remember what's familiar

at the price of experiencing what is free.

And I think sometimes we want in our lives things that are

familiar. But The Cave is very unfamiliar

because we can't see the landscape of what God is

actually painting. But He's actually preparing you

for your future, and He is aligning you with His purpose.

And God could even use the attack of the enemy to produce

in you such an awareness of himself that you will not quit.

I remember when my first son was born, Tyler, who's now 25 years

old. I remember being so stressed out

when he entered into the world and I, when the first moment I

saw him, just wept. It was life altering but I

didn't want anyone to hold them because I didn't want anyone to

give them him their germs. And so the sweet lady came into

our room and she washed her hands and she was ready.

She put on her mask and she lifted her arms out and I said

absolutely not. I held them close.

No one was going to get my son sick.

Three weeks later, I'm taking Tyler back to the hospital

because he's extremely sick. And I am crying and terrified.

And I remember my dad walked in coming in from work and he

looked at me and he said these words.

He said it's going to be OK. No, it's not OK.

It's not OK right now, he said. It's going to be OK.

And I think sometimes we fail to believe the father's words.

Tyler is 25. He's not three years old, three

weeks old anymore. It was going to be OK, but the

stress of my situation brought me to a place that I could not

see out of and believe that what the Father said was actually

true about my situation. And I think sometimes when we

hear this, that it's going to be OK.

It's, it's not OK that we're facing this disease, but we're

going to be OK. He's 25 years old.

It's going to be OK. And I just submit this to you as

a born again follower of Jesus, that in everything that we face,

it's going to be OK because God is preparing you not just for

this earth, but for eternity. It is going to be OK.

And I love what God does. He uses The Cave to produce

character in David's life. He uses what is dark to produce

discipline in David's life. He uses the hole that we are in

to make us wholly found to be in Him.

He uses what is uncomfortable to teach us how to bring comfort to

others, and He takes what is dirty.

And He teaches you how to delight in something that just

seems absolutely messy. And it's in this cave moment

that God not only uses it for you, but he uses it to be a

lesson for other people. But here's what I do in The

Cave. Can I just tell you how I have

ruined my cave moments? Can you write this down?

Because this is going to be so important that you remember

this. This is how Pastor Casey has

ruined cave moments. Can you write this down?

I'm going to be very vulnerable. I'm going to be very upfront,

which I hope I am every Sunday. Here's how I've ruined cave

moments. I started complaining about The

Cave. I started complaining about The

Cave. The rock was too hard.

The rocks weren't the colors that I wanted.

The terrain was up and down. I could twist my ankle real

easily. I started complaining about The

Cave that I was in and I missed the God that I served.

Can I give you another one? My my confession, Pastor Casey

confession moment Put this up on Instagram.

You start criticizing in The Cave.

I start criticizing in The Cave. I start comparing my life to

other people's moments, and thus I begin to criticize what God is

doing in that situation rather than focusing on what God's

situation is for me in this moment.

And I begin to criticize, Oh, well, look at that person.

I'm wondering if they're even following Jesus.

They're not facing the the difficulty that I'm going

through. I have taken it to the next

level. God, would you just look at me

and see because I've gone through this cave, I am not just

built different. I am actually better.

Look at all these complacent Christians.

They don't even have a passion for Jesus like I have a passion

for Jesus. And we begin.

I began, excuse me, to criticize people in The Cave.

And this is the next thing that I did.

I started basing my decisions off of confusion in The Cave.

I started basing my decisions off of confusion in The Cave

because I couldn't see things the way that it that I saw them

in the valley. Now because it's a little bit

blurry for me now, I'm basing my decisions off of confusion and

not conviction in The Cave. Can I give you another one?

I hope you take this with you tomorrow when you go into work

when you walk into school. That's right, it's Labor Day.

Sleep in. Listen, this is what I did next.

I started getting cold in The Cave.

I started getting cold in The Cave.

I love what CS Lewis writes in his book, that if you want to

keep yourself from hurt and pain in this world, take your heart

and lock it up in a box. And that heart gets cold and

hardened, and it's no longer moldable nor shaped by the

things of God. And this is what happens in The

Cave. We allow the bitterness of The

Cave to leave us bitterly cold towards people.

And now it's not just criticizing.

Now you're actually resenting people.

You begin to resent people in your life.

You begin to resent God's work in your life.

You begin to look for things now that you used to just lift your

hands and worship, but now you're so bittered and bothered

in the situation that you're in, you can't even lift your voice.

And this is what the possibility of each of our lives has

happened. Maybe not just to me, but maybe

to you. I love what that one pastor

said. He said God has already prepared

the way. Now He's just preparing you.

He is preparing you. Not a thing is.

Oh, come on church, we'll get out of here on time today.

Not a thing is wasted. Not a thing is wasted.

He's preparing you. But not only is God preparing

you, can you just write this? He's also providing for you.

God's also providing for you in The Cave.

He's also providing for you. Notice verse one, the Bible says

these words and when his brothers and all his father's

house heard it, they went down there to him.

David goes from from the palace. Now he's on the run.

He finds himself in a field. Now he finds himself going to

Gath and from Gath he goes down. And if that's exactly how you

feel, it feels like you're going down and not up in The Cave

because you can't see your but other people can.

You can't see yourself unless you look in the mirror, but

other people can see you. And here's David at a point

where he feels and he's gone down into The Cave and notice

who God sends his way. He sends his family to him.

The same dad who left David out in the sheepfold when Samuel

arrived to anoint the king of Israel.

And Samuel said, is there another?

Well, I have one more son. He brings the brothers who

resented David when he went into the valley of Elah.

And his dad said, bring the cheese, bring the lunch to your

brothers. It was there in this moment that

his whole family arrives at The Cave.

Notice this. I love the provision verse 3.

Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab.

This was a 70 mile walk and he goes 70 miles with his family,

providing for his family with the king of Moab.

Now they believe he went to Moab because David was of the house

in the lineage of Ruth the Moabitess.

And there he goes to the king, and he says, Please let my

father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will

do for me. Notice the provision.

So we brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt

with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

Now think of this, if you would. David now finds himself in The

Cave God brings his family and notice this in verse 2.

And there were about 400 men with him.

He also provided David 400 other people, 400 other people who

were distressed, in debt and discontented.

He brought his family that rejected him and people that

seem to make it even harder on him.

That was God's provision for David's life when he was at his

lowest and loneliest point. David's family went there to

meet him. And there is an interesting

David wrote some Psalms in The Cave, and I would encourage you

write some songs when you're in The Cave here.

I rave at The Cave just like your servant Dave.

And I'm just kidding that put that on something, huh?

Listen, listen. David's on the run.

God provides his protection and his provision.

And God's absence seemingly from David's life doesn't mean his

lack of provision for David's life.

And this is what David writes in one of the psalms that he wrote

in The Cave, Psalm 57, verse 2. Listen to what David says.

Psalms 57:2

Now. A Psalm is a prayer that turns

into a song. And here David says, I will cry

out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me.

That's unselfish. No, no, no, listen to God's

heart. I will cry out to God Most High

in The Cave, to God who performs all things for me.

What does that mean? My pain does not negate what God

can and will perform. Listen, let God perform.

You don't have to be the performer, you just have to be

the receiver. Here it is that God provided for

David with the family who rejected.

God provided with the people who mocked him.

God provided with, with, with, with with all of the people that

would laugh at him or be discontented with King Saul.

Listen, God was on the move providing for David when David

met Goliath. God was providing when David had

Spears thrown at him. God was providing when David was

in a cave and in Moab. God is providing in each and

every situation that David was in.

Listen, he wasn't just provided for God with things.

He was first provided with God, with God himself.

And I think it's important that we get that because I think we

often times want the escape of our reality.

But there is something that is in each of our lives that has to

happen, and that is called the radical acceptance of your

reality. And now what I do is I commit

that reality instead of escape from that reality.

I commit that back to God and I let God work in the situation.

The truth of God can be given to you to face any type of reality.

And maybe today you don't need an escape.

What you need is truth because Jesus put it this way.

Jesus said if you know the truth, the truth will set you

free because you can escape and come still living like you're in

a cave. You can escape out of The Cave,

but you can come out still living like you are in that

cave. And here I want you to see the

truth of what God provides for David and brings him.

Both freedom and release is the truth of what God does.

Now who does God provide God at this point did not give get

David out of The Cave in verse one, but he brings people to the

place of David's pain. He brought his family.

He brought 400 men. And I remember in my darkest

moments of my cave moments in the hospital room at Loma Linda,

I remember that people showed up that I didn't expect, and the

people that I expected didn't show up.

I remember when we first launched the church and almost

everybody left. I remember the people that I

didn't thought think would show up, they showed up and the

people that I thought would be there weren't there.

I remember when my mom was dying.

I remember the people that I thought would show up didn't

show up. And the people that, that, that

I didn't think would show up, that that they were there.

I, I remember when the trailer was stolen.

I, I remember when my daughter stepped on a heroin needle.

I remember all of these situations that God brought

people in my life that I didn't expect would show up in that

moment. Now that doesn't make me bitter

towards people who didn't show up, but what it does is it

builds in me to have the right expectation in the lives of the

people that are in my life today.

And So what I allow to happen in my life is this is that God will

bring truth and God will bring people.

God will bring his peace, his grace, his healing, finances,

forgiveness, but that will all come through people and truth.

God uses people to provide God will always use people in your

cave story, and it's here that God's provision in this cave

story that David would highlight the God who would perform all

things for him. David didn't go on a speaking

tour about caves. He didn't do little Ted talks

about caves. He wrote songs that pointed

people back to God about The Cave.

His conversation in his life didn't always go back to notice

this The Cave, but it went back to Psalm 57, verse 2, to the God

Psalms 57:2

who performs all things for me. But the provision is not just

for me, but everybody else around me.

God's provision through David's family also meant David's family

provision from God. And so notice what God does.

God provides differently than what we often expect.

He also provides more of himself in the moment.

He also God's ultimate provision is for us is the gospel of Jesus

Christ because I can give you food, but if you don't have the

right heart and you die, the Bible says you're on your way to

hell. God also provides eternally and

notice what God does. He is preparing, He is

providing, and he's also transforming.

He's also transforming. If you're taking note, He's

transforming you and people in The Cave.

Now the Bible says this verse 2 that everyone, can you say

everyone who was in distress, Everyone, can you say everyone,

Everyone who was in debt, everyone who was discontented,

they gathered to him and notice the Bible says so he became

captain of them and over them, the man who was once crazy, now

God chooses to be the captain. Notice the transformation.

The Bible says there were about 400 men, 404 hundred people who

were distressed. If you want to take note, they

were in anguish or stressed out of their mind.

People who were now in debt, they were LED astray.

They were fighting to pay the next bill.

Everyone that was discontented, this word discontented means

someone who's facing a heart crushing situation.

They all gathered around David because this one moment of

David's life of acting crazy wouldn't determine who God was

making David to be in other people's lives.

So David is surrounded by 400 stressed out, LED astray people

who are crushed in The Cave, and he becomes the captain of those

400. Transformation happens in

David's life, but not just David's life.

Those 400 men, 300 of them, become David's mighty warriors.

400 of the 303 hundred of the 400, excuse me, become David's

mighty men of valor. Look at the transformation that

happened in David's life. It happened in The Cave with a

king. Let me say that again, because

it just flew over your head. The transformation happened in a

cave with a king. If we were to point you a little

bit further in the story of the Gospel, it happened with a baby

who was born in a Manger, who is the king of all kings and the

Lord of all Lords. The transformation happened in a

cave with a king. You might say, well that's just

David's life. Well let me give you some other

examples. One man, a young slave in pre

civil war America, almost murdered his abusive master's

son with an axe. But God wastes nothing, and this

man went on to free 118 people from slavery in the Underground

railroads. His name was Reverend Josiah

Henson, the man whose life would inspire Harriet Beecher Stowe to

write Uncle Tom's Cabin. Another man was a thief and a

drunkard who stole from his own father in 19th century England.

But the Lord weighs nothing, and this man started a worldwide

ministry serving thousands of orphans and homeless and

establishing more than 100 Christian schools.

His name is George Mueller. Another man was homely,

prematurely bald, overly short and publicly humiliated by

pastors, mentors and friends. But God wastes nothing, and he

became known as the father of modern missions, serving in

India and translating portions of the Bible and at least 29

languages and dialects. His name is William Carey.

Another man faced poverty and sickness, as well as local

church and denominational persecution and prison in China.

He lost his wife in China. But God wastes nothing, and this

man is responsible for founding more than 2000 churches

worldwide and writing 19 books of Christian theology.

His name is Watchman Nee Listen. One woman felt unloved and

unwanted, and she struggled with suicidal thoughts and fantasized

about drowning herself on several occasions.

But the Lord wastes nothing in our lives, and she became a

pioneering female African American preacher during a time

of intense slavery. Her name is Jorina Lee, and we

might not know these names, we might not know these stories,

but all of these people allowed The Cave to push them closer to

Jesus Christ. And because they were driven to

the cross of Christ, because they were driven to the person

of Jesus, they left a legacy that we read about and inspires

us not to quit in the midst of The Cave.

And so I submit to you of what God is doing in your life.

And that is, this is it. Jesus Christ has come as the

King who took upon the role as a servant.

The one who was sinless became sin on our behalf.

The one who never trespassed took our trespasses upon

himself. The one who never had iniquity

in his life took on iniquity, the one who was chastised for

our justification, the one who was given that we might

experience life. The King is in The Cave and he

has suffered, and he has not stopped because the tomb is

empty. In the same pioneer and

forerunner we find in Jesus is the shepherd, the great Shepherd

of our souls, who leads us even in the midst of the valleys, the

meadows, and the caves. Not a thing is wasted.

And maybe you feel like it is. Maybe you feel like you've come

in here and you're like, man, I want to go back to that job.

I want to go back to that boyfriend.

I want to go back to that girlfriend.

I want to go back. And is it interesting how we

often times want to go back to the 1950s?

We want to go back to the 1970s. I want to go back to when

America was free. I want to go back to when a when

it was better. No, no, no.

Listen, God's Kingdom is always advancing.

So may we not just look back at what God has done.

May we look ahead to what God wants to do Amen.

We hope you enjoyed this message and we'd love for you to join us

in person every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

For more information and updates, visit

wearebridgetown.com. Thanks for tuning in and we'll

see you next week.