Cave Time

CAVE TIME?
1 Kings 19:1-19:18

Elijah goes from the mountain top, to a Juniper tree and from there Elijah’s next stop is a cave
Why is Elijah hiding in a cave? 

The answer is fear.  The bible says Ahab told Jezebel what Elijah had done, how he slew the false prophets and called down fire and rain from heaven, then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with the message that She was going to kill him.

There is so much that can be said about Elijah’s experience, however in this blog I want to point out the following:

The cave is a place of two anointings, it is the place where we either transition into the anointing for the future, or we resign ourselves to the anointing of the past.

When Saul was pursuing David, it just so happened that Saul decided to rest in the same cave where David and his men were hiding.

1sa 24:3
And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a CAVE; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the CAVE.

I want you to get a mental picture of what is happening:  David and his men are hiding in a cave in the middle of the desert.  Saul decides to take a rest room break and odds against odds, he chooses the exact same cave David and his men are hiding in.  While Saul is taking care of business, David and his men crowd up against the walls in darkness, watching Saul as he was literally totally exposed in weakness.

David’s men encouraged him to kill Saul but he would not put his hand against the Lords anointed.

1sa 24:6 And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.

Here, at the same time, in the same cave, there are two anointing. There was yesterday’s king with yesterdays anointing.

Saul was a king and he was anointed, and he had been used of God, and he had done some great things in the anointing, but Saul had failed to make the transition.

Then there was tomorrows King (David) who represents the transition to the fresh, the new, and the future.

In every cave there are two anointings, and there are two kings.  There are the old and the new.  And it’s up to you which one comes out of that cave, (You can either come out transitioned into the new and the fresh) or you can come out resigned to yesterdays anointing, (If you do you will live the rest of your life looking back, talking about how it used to be, what God used to do, How God used to move.)
At some point we will all come to this place, it is here that we must decide whether we are going to transition into the new or we are going to resign ourselves to the old.

The old was not bad, it’s just time to change.  Saul had a genuine anointing but it was time to change.  Elijah had a great anointing but it was time to change.

Your cave experience is the place of change, of newness, of a fresh start.

When Elijah left that cave he was a new man, he was fearless, Jezebel meant nothing to him anymore, He wasn’t looking back anymore, he had a new anointing for a new day.