Tag: David

The Good Thing About Caves

October 24, 2018 /

I’m not a fan of caves. I mean really, who is? Disconcerting darkness, and bats and snakes and who knows what else. Think of the boys’ soccer team trapped in that flooded cave in Thailand. Can you even???

But we all have “cave” times that can’t be avoided – times when we are isolated, discouraged, weary, disoriented and feel trapped in the dark, amIright?

And yet…

God does some of His best work in caves! Consider the cave of Adullum where God prepared David to take his role as king (1 Samuel 22). He was on the run from the insecure King Saul and was joined by a band of misfits as he tried to respond with godly patience and respect to Saul.

Maybe you’re in a cave of rejection.

Or the cave at Horeb where God refreshed the exhausted Elijah (1 Kings 19). Remember, he ran there and said, “That’s it! I’m done! No more prophetting for me!”

Maybe you’re in a cave of exhaustion.

Or the cave where Lazarus was buried and Jesus showed both his compassion and power (John 11). Mary and Martha had given up, angry and frustrated that Jesus hadn’t arrived in a timely manner and executed their plan for healing BEFORE death.

Maybe you’re in a cave of overwhelming circumstances and you feel out of control.

So how did God show up in each of these caves and make a difference? In each case He provided. He gave unlikely partners, counsel, food and rest, comfort, healing…and next steps.

What’s interesting to me is what He didn’t provide in the cave times. He didn’t give a detailed explanation of why He had allowed the circumstances that drove David, Elijah, or Lazarus to their caves. But He DID provide perfect timing.

A cave is a place to hold your concerns in God’s presence alone, and that’s good, but caves can become too comfortable. The circumstances that propel us there may be painful, but the cave can begin to feel like a safe place where we’re protected from the meanness of the world. Sometimes we’re tempted to hideout instead of step out with renewed power from God.

But in each of these situations, God does His work and then says “Ok, it’s time to leave.”

Eventually, God sends a prophet to David with this command, “Do not stay in the stronghold.” (1 Samuel 22:5)

After Elijah is rested and refreshed, God says, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord…” and then “Go back the way you came…” (1 Kings 19:11)

Once it was clear nothing could be done, Jesus shouted, “Lazarus come out!” (John 11:43). Yes, He spoke to Lazarus, but there was  cave work being done in the lives of Mary and Martha too.

In each of these caves something needs to die. Self-sufficiency, self-centeredness needs to be snuffed out.

When we’re in a cave, often it seems that God is encouraging us to let go of our false self – the part of us that is dependent on talents, titles, triumphs and re-tweets for our sense of worth. Instead, in the cave we are encouraged to abandon ourselves to God.

So, just a few questions we might ask ourselves about caves:

  • If you’re in a cave right now, what has driven you there? Name your cave.
  • What is the invitation from God in this dark time?
  • Has He finished His work and is He nudging you to step out?

As always, I’d be delighted if you’d share your thoughts with the rest of us. To post a comment, if you receive this in email,  just click on the title. That will take you to the post on the website. Scroll down and post away! If this is your first or second time, don’t worry if it doesn’t show up right away…It will.

 

 

 

 

4 Benefits of Hanging With Sheep

April 27, 2015 /

My family has accused me of being a tiny bit obsessed with sheep. IMG_3678They’re tired of me yelling for John to stop the car on foreign roads so I can take a picture. But they’re cute. And I feel like sheep and the guys who hang with them have a lot to teach me.IMG_3537

In a community of young married couples I shepherd (unintentional pun), we’re studying David, my favorite Bible guy.  He was a musician, a leader, a poet, a crappy father, a great friend, a soldier, an adulterer, and…a shepherd. In short, a renaissance man before the renaissance.

Of all his roles, the one I love the most, the one I learn from the most, is shepherd. Continue reading

What to do With all the Big Feelings

April 15, 2015 /

I’ve shared before that the emotional trajectory of any given day (or hour) of my life can look a little like this.

Unknown

Even if this isn’t your norm, perhaps there has been a day or two…

It seems that lately, many people around me have been facing circumstances that have thrown them for a loop even if usually their emotional life looks more like a merry-go-round than a monster roller coaster. So what do you do with all the Big Feelings?

One of the things I love about Scripture is that it’s so authentic, that often I may be experiencing something or feeling an emotion and one of the Bible people seems to jump off the pages and say “Me too!”

The community of young married couples I shepherd has started a study of David. I’m thinking David might have been a roller coaster kind of guy – a musician, shepherd, warrior, leader, and writer… As part of our study, this week we have agreed to read a Psalm written by David every day, starting with Psalm 3.

I love the Psalms because I feel kind of like a voyeur, peaking over someone’s shoulder, reading their journal.  The Psalms are just so dang real!

The Psalms are FULL of All Of The Big Feelings.

Can you say drama???

But the great thing is that the Psalms model how to deal with that drama.

Religiosity may say stuff or deny – don’t admit the messy feelings.

Secularism may say emotion is god – it rules all.

But the Psalms give us a third way to deal with our emotions.  Continue reading

Three Ways to Fight

July 21, 2014 /

My husband John has been in the leadership boxing ring with a maddening challenge for the past couple years.

I’m on the sidelines, literally jumping up and down, shadow-boxing in our kitchen and yelling “Go to the mattresses!” when he reports the latest crazy atrocities at the end of a day.Unknown

I’m a DO-er!!  I want to take out an Uzzi and FIX this now!  Ok, as a Jesus-follower that might not be the best plan, but for the love of justice!!!

Trying to ratchet back the passion and put on the mantel of patience John seems to wear so easily, I’ve been reflecting on the different responses to THE ROCK AND A HARD PLACE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES I see in Scripture.  Here are three I’ve come up with: Continue reading

Is there Room in Your Chariot?

March 17, 2014 /

This past summer at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit I had the opportunity to live blog for Engage Churches, a part of the Willow Creek Association.  I was blown away listening to the teaching of Chris Brown, a pastor at North Coast Church in California.  Here’s some of what I wrote that day…

This afternoon, Chris Brown (not that Chris Brown, a different Chris Brown) started with the story of a man approaching a campfire.  Creeping forward, and then walking back into the shadows while others by the campfire gossip about his failed leadership around the issue of a certain giant named Goliath.

The man is King Saul.  For over a month Saul has been called out and he knows he doesn’t have what it takes.  His ministry is  paralyzed.  His leadership is paralyzed.  He’s a leader in trouble who is bailed out by a kid named David.

And then it goes out on Twitter (as it were).  1 Sam. 18:5-9 “Saul has killed his thousands.  David his ten thousands.”

Huh??  Big gasp.  How is Saul going to react?

“From that time on, Saul kept a jealous eye on David.”

Saul didn’t have room in his chariot for David, the young twerp who bested him.

Leaders struggle with jealousy and comparison.  Pride and ego.  It’s in the Bible.  A lot. Continue reading

Invitations of the Scary Kind

February 26, 2013 /

I wrote yesterday about how I don’t see myself usually as the cowabunga-bungee-jumping for Jesus type.

IMG_0767

But I am trying to be a person that responds to whatever God invites me into.

Sometimes that’s leaning in to hear a whisper and being obedient in one of the million small invitations from God in daily life.

But sometimes there are big scary invites that take us off-guard.

They are as clear as a public marriage proposal booming over the loud-speaker at the Twins Stadium.  And that can be the most disconcerting kind.

So when I got a request to go teach a class to seminary students in middle-of-nowhere-rural Northern Kenya I wanted to put on Bose head phones to drown it out. (Yes. They are clearly desperate.)

I’ve never taught a seminary course and I’ll be alone without John, my best coach in all things challenging.  So the refrain in my head is “Ican’t/I’mnot/Ican’t/I’mnot…”

But like I’ve written before, I’m not, but He is.  And I really can’t ignore this, even though it makes me quake in my boots (or in my TOMS as the case may be).

And I’m inspired by some friends of mine who are responding to an much bigger crazy invite…adopting two orphans from the D.R.C.  You know, Congo, where there’s been horrendous gender violence (that means rape and worse) and warfare and the perfect storm of natural disaster, poverty, and evil.  And yes, you read right.  Two, yes two kids, with two more at home.

This is a big invitation that God has confirmed in both their hearts from the time they were dating until now.  Through scary developments and uncertainty they are trusting God to knit together a loving family of American born biological kids with Congolese babies abandoned out of desperation.

But there are also invitations of a different kind.  Big invitations to rest, that come in the form of end-of-your-rope-exhaustion and require you to say “no” may be just as scary and as the invitations to jump.

Here’s the thing…I don’t think we’re ready to say “yes” to any of the “bigger”, riskier things unless we’ve said “yes’ on the days of small things.

Would David have been ready to say “yes” to God’s invitation to fight Goliath, if he hadn’t said “yes” to the ordinary, boring, everyday stuff of protecting his sheep before that?

Would Elijah have had the courage to say “yes” to a showdown with the prophets of Baal if he hadn’t trusted God to provide food and water before that?

Would Daniel have been prepared to defy Darius when push came to shove if he hadn’t quietly been honoring God daily before that?

So as I prepare to send the email responding to the loud scary-big invite in my life, I’m trying to say “yes” to the whispers of today.  And I’m praying for my dear friends on their journey to respond to Jesus’ invite to come pick up two toddlers in Congo.

Are there ways you’ve seen God use everyday whisper invitations to prepare you for loud riskier ones?

“You’re Invited!”

September 10, 2012 /

Aren’t those words magical?!  You feel special.  Included.  Valued.  There’s a sense of anticipation.

One of the things I love most about God’s character is that He is an inviter.  A “welcome to the party” God…  An “I’ve been waiting for you to arrive!” God… A “Come as you are” God…

He’s the Host at the Banquet, the Greeter at the door, the Provider of refreshment for those who are hungry and thirsty.

Continue reading

THE Question, Part 2 and 4 Benefits

July 11, 2012 /

Probably once a week I get THE question, “What do you do?”

I don’t have a business card or a title or a clear-cut job description so I stutter a lot when answering.  Some of you can relate.  Others are reading this and feeling huge relief that they can’t relate.

Monday I wrote about how sometimes we can feel reduced to “names” and “numbers”, and other times we cling to our names and numbers like a life jacket that’s the only thing keeping us safe.

As much as we try to major on living out of our identity in Christ, that can be about as easy as feeling comfortable on a blind date.  So I’ve been thinking about others who may have struggled with this issue.

Continue reading

© 2024 Laura Crosby

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑