My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 55
4 – 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.”
Oh my goodness, do I resonate with this passage.
How often have I been under some type of stress, and my first reaction is to flee. Run away. Some nights my stomach is in knots, fearing the day’s events. As I take my time in the morning on my walk, I often want to succumb to the temptation to simply walk away from the days events. Don’t get me wrong, for these events are not life and death situations as we know David is impacted by, but though the depth of my fears may be far less than David’s, the reality of wanting to escape is just as real.
At times, the only thing that pulls me back from the brink of escaping a pressure situation is that there is no advancing in the faith if the wind is always at your back. An old Scottish preacher, by the name of Alexander Maclaren, made a statement that rings true for all believers.
“So the psalmist’s wish was but a wish; and he, like the rest of us, had to stand to his post, or be tied to his stake, and let enemies and storms do their worst.”
Remember that David is facing near death on a daily basis within this psalm, and to make matters even worse, the threat is from a close friend. The wind in his face was tornado-like, and his daily experience was one of anguish, terrors of death, fear, trembling and horror.
Horror! This term is rarely used in the Old Testament, and David is admitting to being overwhelmed by this horror. What he was experiencing I cannot tell, and cannot relate to. Yet this passage smacks of the suffering the Messiah experienced on His way to the cross. He did not turn back, nor fly away on the wings of a dove, but fully embraced God’s will. And out of that obedience, He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us in our times of anguish and fear.
He is good, and He is good all the time
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.
Considering the Bible 