I would fly away and be at rest-
I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;
Selah
I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.'"
Psalm 55:6-8
I always find it interesting that people who lived hundreds of years ago have the same problems that I do. For some reason I tend to think that life for them must have been somehow easier since they didn't have carpool duty, or a ton of extra curricular activities to shuffle kids to, or a telemarketer calling while the baby is screaming and dinner is burning on the stove. Here, however, we see the author (David?) lamenting that he wants an escape from life too. He seems to be looking around himself and seeing people staring at him (v3), friends turning on friends (v20), malice and abuse (v10) and so much more that hurts his heart. Not so different from the world today.
It is a comfort to me to know that even people who did great things for God felt overwhelmed, a need to hide. It makes me feel more secure in my own feelings. The lesson to be learned though is that although the desire to escape from it all was there, the author "call(s) to God, and the Lord saves (him)" (v16) and he puts his trust in God.(v23) Times do get hard, days do get stressful and may feel unmanageable. Tell God, trust that God has an ultimate plan and wants you to succeed in what you are doing for Him. It is okay to ask for peace, respite, shelter, just trust that God will give you what you truly need. Sometimes that means dealing with the unmanageable things.
Love,
