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Program D-7800

Have you ever had the run-away blues? You probably know what I’m talking about. The run-away blues are those days, those times in your life when you’d just love to run away. When the thought of going to the airport and catching the next flight out to anywhere but where you are, sounds like a really good idea. Run-away blues—who hasn’t experienced that?

David expressed it so well in Psalm 55. He was in a bad place at that time: his enemies were threatening him, his mind was a jumbled mess, his heart was in anguish, and he was frightened. Now mind you, that was the condition of King David, a man after God’s own heart, a man chosen by God to be the King of Israel. I mean, “Come on, David, why would you want to run-away?” But listen to what he wrote:

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 55:6-8)

David, as God’s appointed king, was doing what he was supposed to do, and yet he longed to fly away and be at rest. Are you right now where David was then? Aren’t you glad he was inspired by God to put his feelings in writing and leave them for you to read today? It says that you aren’t condemned for feeling like you want to run away—even kings have those times. Instead, you have a God who cares, and who can bring release and relief for you right where you are.

After expressing his run-away desires and fears to God, David then says this:

As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. (Psalm 55:16-17,22)

I’ve talked about blooming where you are planted, so I wanted to leave you with those words of hope today—words from a king who wanted to fly away from where God had planted him.

Even in the midst of doing what God has called you to do, you can lose your bloom and the enemy can steal your joy. If that’s where you are, just call to God, cry out to him. Cast your cares on the Lord, and he will put a new bloom inside of you; your desert will become a garden where you’re blooming once more, and the joy of the Lord will again be your strength.