He that dwelleth in the secret place, shall abide.
Hello again, saints. How I have missed writing here more frequently, and perhaps the title of this post has clued you in to where I have been this last month. Time flies when you are having fun, and I have discerned this to be one of the most pivotal points of my life. I say this to magnify God and acknowledge the boundaries He has seen me across in such a short time, although He has been preparing me for this moment all along - and there is yet more.
Most instrumental to my walk with God, I have learned to read the signs of my times. Often times, God will use seemingly small events to clue you in to the season you are in. It is important not to miss these signs, because whatever we thank God for, multiplies (see the story about the loaves and fishes). However, the things that seem “small” to us today are the things we cried out for in time past - so, we can never rely on our human judgment of a thing. This is one of the divine wisdoms we embody when we spend time with the Lord in what theologians term “the Cave of Adullam” - and divine wisdom is not memorized or even learned, it becomes (is embodied) a fully functional part of you.
Adullam is the term used interchangeably with “the secret place” that every believer must develop within which to know and to be joined with God and become like Him. For me, the secret place is much less a place, and much more a relationship. It is the reality of being hidden in God such that anything and anyone that seeks to interact with you, ultimately finds Him - His wisdom, power and blessing - as a result.
Now the Lord asked me for the last few weeks and I happily indulged. Life in the Spirit is a thread of journeys - one ends and another begins - and this was just another day in that Life. Think of this Life as the flow of the river that we know is the Holy Spirit: the moment the journey of the river stops this implies a blockage and the flow comes to a still. The river of the Spirit of God in us must flow, carrying us from one point of depth, intimacy and maturity, to yet another. This is what it means to have a secret place: to journey with God in total obedience to the personalized demands (laws) of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2) which daily seeks to direct our lives in such a manner that the purposes of God can flow through us and out into the world.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8:14)
The beauty of the Adullam experience is the personalization of it. What one man needs to journey with God is different from another. Following someone else’s blueprint for intimacy and depth with God leads to frustration and stagnation. The law of the Spirit of life is unique to each man, so that the constituents of life required to fill the gaps that the world, the flesh and the environment have created in his soul, are developed in that Spirit-to-spirit connection. For instance, there are standard basic developmental operations of a victorious believer: we pray, fast, fellowship and study the word (eat it truly, as daily bread - don't even get me started on the miraculous power of simply reading the Word). Yet the Spirit of Life can ask a man to embark on a 30 day fast, and another on a 3 day dry fast, and yet another to dance and praise God daily for a period of time. The requirements of victory over the workings of sin and death in the heart, mind and body of each man are different, and the Spirit of Life curates our life experiences such that we can walk in the power of our Salvation.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)
In the Secret Place
Psalm 91 is one of the most popular scriptures that help us understand “the secret place”.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)
Some less mature or convicted believers often complain about the different Bible versions - I know, being one of them at a point - but the ways of God are different from ours. While young in the faith, we may not understand how different meanings can be inferred from one verse of scripture, and yet all hold true. This is a divine law of Scriptural truth, distinct from the operation of the laws of this world. That we can read one verse of scripture and not only do different versions help us understand better, but the same scripture, from the same translation, can mean different things to the same person (read that again!) It's a wonder I acknowledge every time I can, and wonder is a powerful tool for deeper revelation.
I say all that to say that anytime the KJV translation uses the -eth suffix in a word, it means that the action work is continuous. This is a revelation that seems minute, but changes the game in many ways, just open up your Bible and see.
In Psalm 91:1 for instance, "dwelleth" means that the secret place is an ongoing relationship - and it is the continuity of that relationship that casts the shadow of the Glory of God upon the life of a man.
Seeing as I have repented of my super long articles (this must mean I’m close to making video content!?) I will skip right on to the last portion of this. What happens in Adullam? And for one who is yet to wield the power of the secret place - what can you expect? Let’s ask the man from whose experience the term “Adullam” was coined in the first place: David, the man after God’s heart.
If we can even begin to fathom how much God loved David, it will leave us with more questions than answers. For our Lord to come from David’s lineage and forever immortalize his name in the heavens, not only in this age but in every age to come (because the Kingdom of our Lord will never come to an end, even after this age) is a huge deal. Any Bible scholar will tell you for free that David must have spent a crazy amount of time in God’s presence, from his contributions to scripture through psalms and the stories of his exploits.
David showed us (and taught us through his son Solomon) that the presence of God is not only in private ) although it begins there), but it is anywhere and everywhere as long as we acknowledge Him (Proverbs 3:5-6). David’s exploits always started and ended with God. Troops could have been running right at him and David would find a moment to ask God “should I engage? And how?” But everything that is seen in public begins in private (Luke 12:3), and David’s exploits began in the Cave of Adullam.
So what exactly takes place in the Secret Place?
A Sound is Released in Adullam
Sound is a spiritual tool - period. There is no “just fun” sound. What may sound like fun is in fact at work in you, programming your soul, which is where feelings are developed. We must be careful what sounds we expose ourselves to, because sounds can heal, break open or destroy. If you leave me I will go deeper into sound, but perhaps another time. I’ll say this though:
The voice of God is a sound (Ezekiel 43:2), and if we understand our souls to be like computers that process and are programmed by what they are fed, then ought we not to feed our souls with what sounds like God, to better know and hear His voice?
My case rests...
David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. (1 Samuel 22:1)
David was on the run at this point, and as I studied Adullam this morning I wondered, how did his brethren and all his father’s house hear of his location without the enemy hearing it as well? After all, he left for Adullam alone (a revelation for another time). Then the Spirit ministered to me that a sound goes out from the secret place that draws what is yours to you. This was a powerful revelation to me, that just by being with the Lord completely enjoying that atmosphere, feeling loved and safe and loving Him as well - or weeping our eyes out, depending on the day - we are creating a spiritual energy that converts to sound that attracts everything that is meant for us. Forget laws of attraction, believers, the law of the secret place is potent and reliable. Because, imagine attracting something as unhealed and counterfeit as you actually are deep inside. I choose the presence of the Lord, where there is healing and deliverance and then possession of my posessions.
But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. (Obadiah 1:17)
Destiny is Born in Adullam
And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men. (1 Samuel 22:2)
Need I say more? The secret place is where destiny is birthed. Prior to this time, David had been a mighty man, fighting battles with Saul’s troops and Saul’s resources. Everything changed when David gave God his time and laid down his ways for the way of God. And what did God do, but make an army out of people that had been rejected, dejected and cast off by society as worthless.
These men, David’s mighty men, were not just any other army. Once, David being thirsty for water from the well in Bethlehem and 3 men ran up and fought against an entire troop guarding the gates of Bethlehem, retrieved a glass of water and brought it to David (2 Samuel 23:17-21). What sort of men had they become in that cave?? Spiritual men, I say. Because as they brought the cup to their leader, they watched him pour it out to God as a sacrifice, refusing to drink it, because David had the the understanding that the water had now become like blood because of the sacrifice of blood 3 of his men paid to get it - so powerful. These men went down in history by name, unlike any fighting men of any other King in biblical time and yet still. They embodied “one will chase a thousand” in reality, full of strength, wisdom and loyalty. What did they learn from David and from God in Adullam? WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED IN THAT CAVE?! I have so many questions. I want to eat whatever they ate.
We may never know all the details until we join the cloud of witnesses in the heavenly Jerusalem, but one thing is sure: God took what was regarded by man as nothing, and made it into a whole lot of something. This same transformation takes place in the secret place of every believer, and with understanding we know one with God becomes a mighty army.
The Wisdom Exchange of Adullam
I don’t know about you but I spend so much time crying out to God for wisdom. If you’re not sure why we need the Wisdom of God, one clue is that everything that was created was so in the presence of this Wisdom (Proverbs 8:22-31) - and another is that our Christ is actualization or pinnacle of the Wisdom and the Power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).
In the secret place, many exchanges take place: strength for weakness, pain for healing, heaviness for joy. I could go on. One of the most pivotal for me is the exchange of human, common wisdom for the Wisdom of God. We cannot begin to understand how expensive foolishness is, until the price is paid.
Right before entering Adullam, David had tried running to the King of Gath (a whole Phillistine) for help, when Saul was chasing after him. It wasn’t until he arrived that he realized his folly. David had killed thousands (tens of thousands according to the maiden of Israel who sang his songs) of Phillistines and had come to the King of those same people for shelter? Sounds like "the enemy of your enemy is your friend" sort of worldy wisdom. So pretty much, a gamble at best. So the great king David pretended to be a whole raving madman, in order to be kicked out of King Achish's presence in peace rather than risk being killed because he wasn't sure what would happen (1 Samuel 21:13). Its funny, but that's how we look when we make decisions without secret-place-level wisdom - crazy.
And (David) said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me. And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold. (1 Samuel 22:3-4)
Instead, in Adullam, David received the wisdom to take his family to the King of Moab, since this was still a time to abide with allies and not foes. The time would come for David to dwell in Gath and by then he would be gentle as a dove and wise as a serpent (Matthew 10:16) and plunder the Philistines under their very own nose. But this was the time for David’s family to dwell in Moab, with royalty of their own kin, and in safety.
Recall that prior to going to the King of Gath for help, David stopped by the temple in Nob to seek help from Ahimelech the priest. After David’s departure, Saul also stopped by Nob and slaughtered the priests for helping him (it pains me to date). Imagine how King Achish of Gath might have bartered David’s family members to Saul as leverage, but instead they lived happily among royalty in a sort of foretelling of David’s own destiny as king. The Wisdom of God preserves, protects and lifts high those whom the world might try to bring low.
I wish I had more time to share all I have received in this season, and the time will come, but I can say that spending the time with God that He demands - abandoning whatever He says, and picking up what He asks of me- has put Him in the driver’s seat of my life.
And I’m totally here for this ride.
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Grace-Grace.
this was amazingly eye-opening!