I am working on getting caught up on my reading so I will try to post a few comments from wherever I am reading at the time.
Today I was reading Psalm 55 from the readings of the week of March 9th. This Psalm is a prayer of David. It is one of many laments that David writes as his soul searches for help from God. The first few verses describe the depths of David's fear and anguish at the presence of his enemies. These verses are followed by verses 6-8 which are great:
6 I said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest-
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;
Selah
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm."
I have felt this way before. I have never been chased by enemies or felt the fear of death lurking around every corner, but I have had stuff up on me to the point that I wished that I could just fly away and forget all that was below me. The great theologian Lenny Kravitz said it this way:
I wish that I could fly
Into the sky
So very high
Just like a dragonfly
I'd fly above the trees
Over the seas in all degrees
To anywhere I please
Oh I want to get away
I want to fly away
Yeah yeah yeah
I believe that it is a natural human reaction to adversity to want to escape from trouble. It is good to see that even David had times when he wished he could just fly away and be free from the trials of this life. Unfortunately we do not have the ability to take off and be free from life. We try to in various ways, but inevitably we must come back down and those problems are still there. I do think that we all need a little down time, a few hours a week or month where we can relax and put our problems out of our mind for awhile. But never with the intent to escape from them, but rather to clear our minds so that we can come back and face those problems with a better, clearer perspective. For me it is golf. For some it is a book or some other activity. And always with the desire to face life and with God's help overcome all of those things which make us want to escape.
Thanks King David. (and Lenny)
1 comment:
Escape is not the answer as you said. Our flesh cries out for it but our heart and soul tells us to endure to see it through to keep on keep'n on as our good friend Dave Willis would say. I have begun to try and memorize the promises of God to man to help me through these times. It is helpful to know God has me in his hand and I can rely on the fact that He doesn't break any of those promises.
rest brother rest in Him.
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