January 4, 2013 … Moving Out In Faith

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 4

Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 22: 5 [NLT] …  
One day the prophet Gad told David, “Leave the stronghold and return to the land of Judah.” So David went to the forest of Hereth.!  
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Contextual Reference Passage: … To study 1st Samuel 22 use this link …
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Reference Passage: Proverbs 3: 5-6 : [NLT] … {When we’re discouraged, we often need a fresh perspective from Godly prophets who can help us trust in the Lord’s leading. I’m hoping any reader here already knows this passage from Solomon’s (i.e., God’s) writing. But if you don’t go seek it out from God’s word or someone discerning to help you find God's way; and then, if you don't follow it from any cave of discouragement you may be in, onward to the land of praise and peace where God will lead you; I guess that's your choice. ... Here’s the link to the Proverb in the NLT.} …

My Journal for Today: In today’s devotional passage, we find David in a tough place. His King has gone totally paranoid on him and has marked David as a turncoat. And Saul has begun purging anybody allied with David, even including the Priests of God. And many of the down-and-outers of the kingdom are coming to David for shelter. And young David, the anointed one, is off in a cave, protecting as many of God’s people as he can, … probably very discouraged at what has transpired, … and probably praying or thinking, “Lord, where do I go from here?!” 

Ever been in a place like that in your life, a place of discouragement, where God seemed to be distant or unhearing? It’s so easy to crawl deeper and deeper into that hole of discouragement and let the world go on without you. I’ve been there. I have that t-shirt. Maybe you’re there right now.

Well, David was wise to listen to one with prophetic gifts; and the prophet of Gad told David to leave that stronghold of discouragement and head to the land of “Judah.” Oz Hillman, in his devotional piece I was led to read for today, taught me that the Hebrew translation of “Judah” is our concept of “peace.” So, in essence, the prophet was telling David, “You must leave this cave of protected discouragement and move out to God’s place of peace!” And that’s what my reference passage of Prov. 3: 5-6 often helps us to do, … to move from our cave of self-pity, … onward and outward, … and to seek out God’s place of peace.

But as David would discover, leaving one’s cave of self-pity, seeking God’s peace, will often lead us through the valley of the shadow of death. But we must move out of our cave of self and move toward the land of peace to which our Savior is leading us. Again, as I so often do – I’m led to Luke 9: 23, where Jesus Himself calls His disciples ( and that’s you and me, friend) to deny ourselves, to take up our crosses in life daily, and to follow the Lord’s lead. And many times that might mean seeking out someone, possibly with God’s gift of discernment, to help exhort us onward and outward and to move in God’s direction, using His truth and Godly discerning leaders to help us see God’s way out of our cave of self-pity.

As you read this today, I don’t where you are; but I’ve certainly been in my share of self-pity caves in my life; and quite often I was led outward and onward to seek God’s peace by discerning mentors or Godly leaders who knew that where I was would only lead me inward into self, and also knowing that only moving outward to seek God’s way would I ultimately find the land of peace (i.e,. that “Judah”).

If you’re in that cave of self-pity today, my friend, I will pray that you find someone to help you move outward and onward to find the land of Judah to which God will lead you.

My Prayer for Today ... Holy Father, if any are reading this and caught in a cave of discouragement, help them to see that they must move outward to seek after Your land of Judah in their lives. … Amen