He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. – 1 Samuel 24:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 17, 2019): 1 Samuel 24

Once upon a time, there were two men who went to two different churches. Eventually, the two men got into an argument over which of their churches were the best. One church was more structured than the other. One worshipped traditionally while the other used more contemporary worship elements. The argument went on for a while over many aspects of the church, before the less structured of the two charged the other that “The Holy Spirit has no authority to move in your church unless it is scheduled into the worship order.” The reply was swift. “The Holy Spirit can move in our church any time he wishes, as long as he doesn’t do anything weird.” Unfortunately, it seems that whenever the Holy Spirit moves, it tends to get weird.

One of the most significant problems that exist within the contemporary church is that we are essentially a group of people who are just going through the motions. We believe, but we have no expectation. We fulfill the ritual, we attend services, some of us are faithful in our prayers before meals and bed, but we don’t expect God to come and do something in our midst. We are still afraid of the weird. And so God fulfills our expectation and seems to stay away from our lives and our gatherings. Our lack of expectation saves us from God doing anything weird in our midst.

Saul is searching for David. He is searching, but he is not finding. Finally, word comes to him that David is in the Wilderness of the En Gedi, or more literally “Ein Gedi,” located just west of the Dead Sea. The word desert, used here, is a little misleading. Ein Gedi is a spring. “Ein” means spring and “Gedi” means goat-kid, leaving us with the “Spring of the Kid.” The spring provides an oasis in the desert, which extends through a valley where a river flows. In ancient times, it was a perfect place for keeping animals, such as sheep. The valley also possesses some large caves, some of which are very hard to get to unless you happen to be a mountain goat.

Saul stumbles upon one of these caves. The cave was big and was being used to house a large number of sheep. Saul has come to the Wilderness of the En Gedi searching for David. The caves, especially the large ones, are perfect hiding places for David and his men. But Saul seems to have no expectation of actually finding David. And so he doesn’t. Saul needs to relieve himself. A cave, full of sheep, appears to be the perfect place, and so Saul excuses himself and goes inside the cave. His men stay outside, giving Saul a moment of privacy to go about his business.

Every time I read this story I am amazed. Maybe we can blame it on the youth of the men who are guarding Saul and joining him in his search for David but, apparently, none of his soldiers seem to be expecting to find David either. And no one thinks to ask the King to wait outside while they check and make sure the cave is empty.

The cave is not empty. The one the King is searching for is hiding inside. The oversight seems to be an unforgivable mistake. But the King of Israel walks into the cave alone for a meeting with David and his men, and he has no idea that they are even there.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 25