That morning in Jerusalem I could hear the city sounds—car horns beeping, roosters crowing, and the ubiquitous Muslim call to prayer permeating the city.

Our Proverbs 31 Ministries Holy Land Experience with Lysa TerKeurst group loaded the bus and headed out of the city toward the peaceful countryside. In less than an hour we had reached our destination: first to hike to the Cave of Adullam, then to see the Valley of Elah. The Cave of Adullam is where David and his 400 men hid from Saul in 1 Samuel 22. The Valley of Elah is where David slay Goliath with a slingshot and stone.

The yellow mustard plants and lush green grass covered the mountainside.   The bus parked at the foot of the mountain. There was a quiet solitude as we began our ascent to the Cave of Adullam.

Our guides said out of 65 trips to the Holy Land, this was their first time hiking up to the Cave of Adullam. Our Proverbs 31 President and amazing Bible teacher Lysa TerKeurst had hiked there with her Messianic Jewish Rabbi Scholar.

The opening to the cave was small, only about three feet in diameter. We took our backpacks off and backed slowly into the cave. One by one, the guides helped us enter the dark cave entrance.

Each of us turned on our cell phone flashlights on as we entered the darkness. Once inside, the cave was huge, as tall as a hotel lobby.

Lysa TerKeurst made a joke that there was no housekeeping in this cave. We were sitting on the same rocks that David and his men sat on 3000+ years ago. You could feel the Holy Spirit so strongly as we listened to praise and worship music, echoing through the cave.

Lysa read from 1 Samuel 22: 1-2.

“David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred were with him.”

What a fun bunch that must have been to lead—400 hundred men who were in distress, in debt or discontented! So why was David hiding?

To recap, Israel kept asking Samuel for a king (1 Samuel 8:19).

• Saul was made king (1 Samuel 9 and 10).
• Saul served half-heartedly and with pride. The Lord rejected Saul as King (1 Samuel 15).
• Samuel anointed David as King against his father’s Jesse’s wished, but not yet appointed (1 Samuel 16)
• David slay the giant Goliath in the Valley of Elah (1 Samuel 17) .
• Saul was jealous of David and tries to kill him (1 Samuel 18, 19,22, 23).
• David spared Saul’s life (1 Samuel 24 and 26).

The Cave of Adullam virtually overlooks the Valley of Elah, where David slay Goliath a few years prior. As David and his men hid in that dark cave, he was able to almost see the field where he had experienced his greatest victory.

How true that is for my life also. So many times my greatest victories in life are so close to the darkest moments. God is using me, like He did David, despite my flaws and frailties.

Lysa taught that, “God loves us too much to answer our prayers at any other time than the right time.”

Like David, We have a choice. We can be a victim or a victor of our circumstances.

The same God in the dark is the same God in the light.

The same God on the mountaintop is the same God in the valley.

The same God who did it before will do it again.

As we sat in the cave, the 3000- year-old womb of the earth, it made me realize something. Even in the darkest of night, we have the Light of the World with us.

Wherever you are in your faith journey, the following are three ways to shine your Light in the darkness of doubt and experience your greatest victories over your giant.

1. Pray boldly, humbly, knowing nothing is impossible with God.
2. Ponder God’s Word each day. The Bible is trustworthy and True and is God’s love letter to us.
3. Persevere with obedience to God. Our job is to be obedient to God. His job is everything else.

Whether we are on the mountaintop, in a cave of doubt or in the Valley of Elah, about to experience our greatest victory, God is with us. You shine, friend!