A generation that knows how to press in

Continuing the series The Making of a Leader, Pastor Juliet admits that studying 1 Samuel 22 left her concerned for the generations to come. We are so accustomed to fast results that we risk raising followers of Jesus who care about what God does in the results and not in the journey. When the kitchen gets hot, the temptation is to lean back and let something else carry the pressure. A leader in the making presses in, learns from failure, and develops the grit that says, “I’m not moving till it changes or it changes me for the better.”

You have to lead your way out of ruts

Hard seasons are often unfair and undeserved, but Pastor Juliet says she did not bring a lollipop sermon. We cannot keep blaming the pandemic, the economy, or the person who broke our hearts for the bitterness and anxiety festering inside us. The saddest conversations in her years of ministry are with people who cannot break their response cycle of unforgiveness after being hurt or overlooked. She shares her own story: a vision during worship decades ago in which God’s hand planted her underground like a seed and told her she would be unseen for a while. It took 23 years before she felt the same hand lead her out. If God is the one hiding you, the right response is to let Him work. Hebrews 12 says no discipline is enjoyable while it is happening, but afterward there is a peaceful harvest of right living.

Hidden seasons are metamorphosis

Using the picture of a butterfly, Pastor Juliet reframes the hidden season as incubation. God tells the seed it will fly one day, but it hatches as a caterpillar, grows by shedding skin, and eventually reaches a point where it feels stuck. That is when the enemy whispers that it is over, and when God says He finally has you where He wants you. In the cave nothing seems to be happening, but God is cooking. Every reset in life requires an incubation season. David walked into the cave of Adullam afraid and discombobulated, and he walked out a calm, resolved commander of mighty men.

The cave of Adullam

Reading 1 Samuel 22, Pastor Juliet notes that David’s whole family came to him, along with everyone in distress, in debt, and bitter in soul, about 400 men. He sends his parents to the king of Moab, likely trusting family ties through his great-grandmother Ruth, and the prophet Gad redirects him to Judah. Meanwhile Doeg the Edomite reports that Ahimelech the priest helped David, and Saul slaughters the priests and the whole town of Nob. Only Abiathar escapes, and David tells him, “Stay with me. Do not be afraid.”

When God hides you, He is not isolating you

There is a difference between being hidden by God and isolating yourself. Self-isolation can grow out of shame, insecurity, or addiction and keep us from receiving the support we need. God meets us in those places and calls us into safe, life-giving community. When God leads us through a hidden season, He can bring protection, healing, and growth, often through the people He places around us. David entered the cave alone and left with family, 400 men who grew to 600, and a priest covering him. God did not hand him mighty men; He handed him disenfranchised, offended people and watched what David would steward. How you treat people is on you regardless of what you have been through. A hard heart repels; David was magnetic even on his worst days, and his family ran toward him for protection. The Psalms he wrote in this period show that his hidden season was the most productive of his life.

Not stagnation, and not fear

Being hidden is not stagnation. Even in unfair circumstances God still demands obedience and trust, and hard times are not a pass to skip church or numb yourself. David received Ahimelech’s help, obeyed Gad’s redirection, and kept moving. Finally, when God hides you He is not handing you to fear. David walked into the cave fresh from pretending to be insane before the king of Gath, but the man who met the devastated Abiathar was stable and calm. Immature leadership transfers fear to everyone around it; mature leadership transforms it into peace. You know God has done something in you when the place you ran from in fear becomes the shelter others run to for courage. Jesus did His best work in a cave too, so do not be afraid of yours.