In the Cave

The Cave...
Caves have been mentioned in the bible a number of times. Sometimes when mentioning a burial place, like the cave of Machphela in which Abraham buried Sarah and Isaac buried Abraham. But most of the time it was mentioned as a place for "hiding". In the most tense grief moments, lots of Godly people were mentioned to have referred to a "Cave" to escape their enemies on the physical level, and escape their problems and dark feelings like the case with Elijah, and David.

But why caves?
What does it feel to be inside a cave?
What made people by instinct seek caves in their down moments?

Close your eyes.
No, actually you had to read this sentence first: Ok, imagine yourself in a cave.
Now close your eyes! :)

I don't know if you have been to a cave before in your lives or not (on the physical level, not the emotional abstract level). I have been to a couple of them, in different climates I can tell, ranging from St. Anthony cave n Egypt's dry hot Eastern desert, up to Batu caves in Kulu Lumpur, Malaysia's humid hill. What is common about all caves is that staying inside a cave, it is not very convenient! Oxygen is rare, humiditiy is killing... breathing is a difficulty in a nutshell. Bacteria, insects, bad smells.... So, why stay in a cave!

• Maybe because it is "secure": carved in a rocky mountain, it is a natural fortress.  When you are afraid, you will want to go to a place that can give you some of its own strength.
• Maybe because it is "controllable": caves usually have one opening only. This means you KNOW exactly where to expect "interaction" to step into your controlled world of the cave. When you are going through emotional stress, you need to elemental the variables and make things as predictable as possible 
• Maybe because it is "quiet and dark": how many of us tend to get to their rooms, turn off the lights, and set just in complete silence. Maybe the noise of fighting thoughts and feelings within you is loud enough, that you need no extra source of noise from outside of you. 
• Maybe because it is "distant": caves, in mountains, are not expected to be in the city. To go to a cave, you walk away from the city, from people, to a solitary place, by yourself. Maybe in David's case he had a small company of few hundreds of followers who loved him and went outside with him. But in Elijah's case, he had a company of two: he and himself! :)

Psalm 142 is a prayer David wrote while in the cave:

1 I cry aloud to the Lord;
    I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
2 I pour out before him my complaint;
    before him I tell my trouble.
3 When my spirit grows faint within me,
    it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk
    people have hidden a snare for me.
4 Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
    no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
    no one cares for my life.
5 I cry to you, Lord;
    I say, “You are my refuge,
    my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Listen to my cry,
    for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
    for they are too strong for me.
7 Set me free from my prison,
    that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
    because of your goodness to me.

 Me and you and every humanbeing sometimes refer to his own "cave" to hide in times of trouble, in times when you feel "my spirit is growing faint within me"... "no one cares for my life" ... "no one is concerned for me" or "those who pursue me are too strong for me". I am not say this act of hiding is good or bad, it just happens! even if we do not agree that this is the best way to deal with problem.
The good news is that: God understands!
He sent an angel for Elijah in his cave, and he delivered David from his troubles...
His promise is

they are the ones who will dwell on the heights,
    whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
Their bread will be supplied,
    and water will not fail them. (Isaiah 33)