ICS Daily Devotions
Rebuild Your Identity in Christ
1 Samuel 22:1 (NKJV) David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
David found himself in the darkest moment of his life while hiding in the cave of Adullam. As we go through our own “cave of Adullam” experience in life, the Bible holds the answer regarding how to manage the stress points as we wait for the situation to turnaround. One important key is knowing your identity.
Can you imagine if David was hung up with the calling that he was going to be the next King of Israel and if he still sought the praises of the people? If David had chosen to identify himself with all that he had in the past, he would have lost his identity completely because he was a far cry from his prime just about a year ago! He would have felt miserable, struggled greatly, and felt impatient to get back into the limelight and take over the throne as soon as possible. To be honest, this is how most of us would have felt especially when the restoration didn’t come fast enough.
It is easy for us to identify ourselves with the luxury and lifestyle at the pinnacle of our success. It is the world’s definition of success—an identity that many pursue. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the good things in life especially if we can afford them, but we should be aware of the danger of building our identity on them, because when our identity based on the “self-made man” begins to fall apart, we will crumble due to our fear of how men will look at us and treat us.
John 1:12 (NKJV) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name
Praise the Lord that we have a new identity the moment we receive Jesus Christ into our heart to be our Lord and Saviour. We are the children of God. Unless we rebuild our identity in Christ, it will be difficult to climb out of the valley of life because what we used to associate our identity with has been taken away from us. Therefore, since we have a new identity, we should live out this identity. It will give us faith, confidence and a firm footing even when we are in the “cave of Adullam” experience in life.
Sermon Series: Handling Stress – The Cave of Adullam
