How many times have you just wanted to escape to some place where there is no fear? A place where you can rest and be at peace?
David longed for a place like that.
“My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest–I would flee far away and stay in the desert. I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm'” (Psalm 55:4-8).
Many times, I get so weary from struggling, fighting, wrestling with this fear. My mind becomes zapped of all mental energy. “Brain overload,” I call it. Add to that the stresses of work, all the activities to which I so willingly say “yes” and the nameless other distractions. All of it adds up to a desire to fly away and be free.
“Oh that I had the wings of a dove–I would fly far away from the fax machines, the deadlines, the telemarketing phone calls during dinner, the congestion of 5 o’clock traffic. I would fly away to a place of solitude and rest. A place where the fear cannot find me–a shelter in the shadow of the Almighty.”
Jesus told us of a place where we can go: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6a).
Fly away to that secret place and shut the door. Escape for a few minutes from the cares of the world. Open your heart to God, and plunge right into his presence. When you are in his presence, fear cannot touch you.
Enjoy this place of refuge, this place of safety. Enjoy God.
Prayer: Father, I commit this place to you as my room of refuge, my solace from the storm. I long to fly away from the anxieties of this world, and so I come to you. As I commune with you, grant me a reprieve from the distractions of my life, the problems and the pain. Shelter me in your shadow.
