THE EN GEDI CANYON in Israel leads from the shore of the Dead Sea westward into a stark wilderness area. In one striking spot, it has natural springs that feed the waterfalls of an oasis, from which a stream winds to the sea, and has numerous natural caves nearby. It is here in this desert area that a young David hid in a cave (cf. 1 Sam. 24:3-7) from Saul and his murderous rage and his army. “Saul was told, ‘David is in the Desert of En Gedi.’ So Saul took three thousand able young men to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.” (1 Sam. 24:2) It was a perilous time in the life of the future ruler of Israel, “a man after God’s own heart.” (1 Sam. 13:14)
King David later writes of this incident, reminiscing in the present tense, “I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.” (Psa. 57:4) The metaphorical language calls to mind both the later court intrigues that surround the wary world-weary monarch, and his younger version, who survived the perils of Saul’s pursuit while fearing for his physical life. But this is not how he starts his poem. The first lines are, “Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.” (Psa. 57:1) The English translation lacks the force of the Hebrew, in which this calamity is driven by *“wickedness.” From Saul in his youth to his own son Absalom and beyond, David was surrounded life-long by men looking for an opportunity to take his life.
In the bible stories about Abraham or Moses or David or Jesus, to go into the desert wilderness was to be surrounded by danger. There was the danger of outlaws and bandits, heat and drought, and even wild animals, the ‘ravenous beasts’ of David’s poetic imagery. It was a place of testing—a place where simply having keen wits and physical skills was not enough, for also in the desert there were demons. To survive in the hostile desert one needed the favor of God’s protection, because there, one’s life is always in jeopardy.
This has been so from the beginning. Satan is “the god of this age.” (2 Cor. 4:4a) It is he who enticed Eve, and through her, Adam, and this led/drove them out of the Garden of Paradise and, figuratively speaking, into the desert of sin, a very dangerous place. (cf. Gen. 3:1-24) And they were forced to make a life in that ‘desert,’ for there was “cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Gen. 3:24b) There, the first murder took place, that of Abel by his brother Cain. (cf. Gen. 4:2b-8) And so Jesus says that the devil “was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44), and that he “comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10a) Peter warns “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8)
It is not hard for the devil to find us. We have become visible in the darkened world of Satan. We were once his property, “blinded” and unable to “see the light of the gospel, that displays the glory of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:4b) But that relationship changed when we received the good news about Jesus, who is “the light of the world” (cf. John 1:1-4), and who promises “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) We now “walk in the light, as he is in the light.” (1 John 1:7) Paul says that we are “Without fault in a warped and crooked generation,” and that we “shine among them like stars in the sky.” (Phil. 2:15) Jesus says that we “are the light of the world.” (Matt. 5:14) Paul adds that we, “are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” (1 Thess. 5:5) This light shines clearly in the darkness.
It should not surprise us, then, that the lord of darkness desires the lives of the children of the light. Just as King Saul held murderous rage against his former servant David, so the devil is jealous of his loss of control over us. He is constantly stalking us in the desert of temptation.
We, however, keep “our eyes on Jesus, the perfecter of faith.” (Heb. 12:2) From his example in the desert of temptation (cf. Mark 1:12-13), surrounded there by ‘ravenous beasts’ and assaulted by Satan, we draw our own strength, for “the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) And though “the light shines in the darkness, the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)
During trying times we are grateful for David’s solacing words of prayer from his desert experience. “I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.” (Psa. 57:1) Our lives are now “hidden in Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3)
Q. Is my life “Hidden in Christ in God?”
*Strong’s 1942.
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