Want to Get Away?

Day 55.

My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5  Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
6  And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
7  yes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah 
8  I would hurry to find a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest.” (ESV Ps 55:4-8)

Have you ever been so anxious about your situation, so distraught, that you just wanted to run away? David does. This Psalm seems to point to the time when David discovered Ahithophel, his former counselor, was behind Absalom’s rebelli0n for he writes later in the Psalm,

For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—
then I could hide from him.
13  But it is you, a man, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
14  We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God’s house we walked in the throng.

The refuge David finds, however, is not the wilderness but the Lord.

“But I call to God, 
and the Lord will save me.
17  Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.

I find it interesting that it is David’s most difficult times in life, times that I would not wish to experience nor wish on anyone, that yield a great many of David’s inspired prayers in the Bible. Perhaps it was through these times that David discovered God himself to be his great treasure, when everything else was stripped away or threatened. We can learn a lesson in this, a lesson of being thankful even for the difficulties we face, especially when they lead us to the “inexpressible and glorious joy” of knowing the Lord. For David found this to be true:

Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.

What do you do when your circumstances make you want to run away?

Chronological Reading Plan plus Psalms: Num 3-4, Ps 55