He said, “...Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.”
The Psalmist was not the first, and he certainly was not the last person who wished he had wings as a dove so he could fly away.
Illus: We all have felt like the man who went to the bus station and told the clerk, “I want to purchase a ticket.” The clerk said, “Sir, that is what I am here for. Where do you wish to purchase a ticket to?” The man said, “There isn’t a bus I wouldn’t take, no matter where it’s going will be fine!”
This is the way many of us feel at times. We feel just as the Psalmist felt, “...Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.”
People do not have wings, but that is not keeping them from fleeing. Let me show you what I mean,
I. WHAT ARE WE FLEEING FROM?
A. Some are trying to flee from disagreeable people.
Illus: A man was walking into a business as one of the employees came walking with her hands cupped over her ears. She was saying, “Let me out of here, before I do something I will be sorry about later!”
It was obvious that she had just had a disagreement with one of her co-workers and she had all she could take of that individual. She felt she had better get away from her before she clobbered her.
We all have had similar encounters with people that we have disagreed with. At those times we would rather be anywhere, than to be with that individual.
• Some people have moved out of neighborhoods to keep from being around people that annoyed them.
• Some have transferred out of college to another college to get away from someone who irritated them.
• Some have quit their job to get away from someone that they disliked and disagreed with.
We all know that feeling of knowing someone who irritated us so bad that if we saw that person coming down the street we would want to cross the street just to keep from talking to that one.
Many in our society are fleeing from people they consider to be unreasonable, disagreeable people.
B. Some are trying to flee from disgusting jobs.
There was a time when a young person would get a job when he got out of school and would work there the rest of his life. Then, when he was elderly, and ready to retire, the company he had worked all his life for, presented him with a gold watch for his retirement.
That tradition has almost ceased in our society because people flee from job to job.
Illus: We live in a world today where people, by the time they are thirty, do not have enough fingers to count the jobs they have had. By the time they are forty, they do not have enough fingers and toes to count the jobs they have had.
It used to be that when folks had a problem, they worked at trying to solve the problem. Today when they get disgusted with something at work, they will walk off that job and flee to another one.
Some are fleeing from disgusting jobs.
C. Some are trying to flee from disturbing neighborhoods.
There was a time when folks were born and grew to adulthood in the same neighborhood. Many would live in the same neighborhood all of their lives. Many even lived in the same house until they died. That is not so common today.
Illus: Today, in many neighborhoods, no one knows their next-door neighbors because they have only been there a couple of weeks. People do not bother to establish friends in their neighborhoods because they know that about the time they get to know them to some degree, they will move away and then they have to begin all over again.
Illus: You can drive into any neighborhood and you will see real estate “For Sale” and “For Rent” signs immediately. Why? Because we live in a time when people are very proud. They are so proud that they are having a difficult time finding a neighborhood that is worthy of their presence. Many are trying to flee from disturbing neighborhoods. However, when they move, they are finding the same disturbing problems.
How often we feel like the psalmist who said, “...Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.”
D. Some are trying to flee from discouraging spouses.
Illus: A detective was inquiring about the strange accidents in a man’s life. The detective asked, “How did your first wife die?” The man replied, “From eating poison mushrooms.” The detective then asked, “How did your second wife die?” He said, “She also died after eating a poison mushroom.” Then the detective asked, “Well, how did your third wife die.” He answered, “She died with a broken neck.” The man said, “How did she get a broken neck?” He said, “She would not eat the poison mushroom!”
Seriously, divorces are common across the country. Most of the divorces are the result of people fleeing from their mates because they are convinced their mates are making their lives miserable. They flee to lawyer’s offices, saying, “Get me out of this marriage as fast as you can. I can not enjoy life as long as I am living with that person!”
These are some of the things people flee from, now look at...
II. HOW ARE WE FLEEING?
A. Some feel suicide is the answer.
Illus: A survey of high school and college students was made. Surveyors asked the question, “Do you ever think suicide is an option for young people?” Forty-nine percent said “Yes!”
Suicide is not the answer to any problem. If we ceased to exist when we died, then it might be a solution, but that is not the case. Death is not an ending. It is the beginning of our eternal state in heaven or hell.
Illus: For years Dr. Jack Korvorkian has been promoting suicide as an option to our problems, but HE IS A LUNATIC! He can not find one scripture in the Bible that gives him, or anyone else, the right to take the life of a person no matter how ill that person may be.
Any doctor who would promote death as a solution to problems in life has violated his oath as a doctor.
Everyone needs to find out where his doctor stands on the issue of euthanasia. Why? Because, one day, when you get sick, that doctor may decide he wants to play God, and decide it is time for you to die when it is not time for you to die.
Illus: A California woman has written, “No matter how bad the pain is, it is never so bad that suicide is the only answer. Suicide doesn’t end pain. It only lays it on the broken shoulders of the survivors!” She ended her story, “By the way: to all the doctors, nurses and psychiatrists who forced me to live when I didn’t want to--thank you for keeping breath in my lungs and my heart beating and encouraging hope in me when I didn’t have any hope.”
Many are fleeing from their problems today and they are trying to fly away on wings of suicide to escape.
B. Some feel that alcohol and drugs are the answer.
Illus:
• Over 60% of the world’s illegal drugs are consumed in the United States.
• There are over 5,000 new cocaine users every single day in the United States. Two thousand will begin using crack.
• And some 3.3 million American teenagers are alcoholics.
• An estimated 10% to 23% of workers use drugs on the job.
Federal agencies estimate that substance abuse costs nearly $100 billion in lost productivity each year.
Remember, as we have often stated, multitudes of people in our nation are hooked on drugs and alcohol.
Illus: Mrs. Nancy Reagan said this about those folks, “A chemical high becomes their salvation.” For those people, drugs and alcohol take the place of faith.
Some feel the answer to their problems is to “fly away” on the wings of drugs and alcohol!
C. Some feel that divorce is the answer.
Yet many of those people marry again.
Illus: A study of divorced couples, with preschool children, shows that after a year of being divorced, 60% of the men, and 73% of the women feel they made a mistake and should have tried harder to make the marriage work.
People have no idea how much anguish and stress is caused by divorce.
Illus: A Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Toledo, Ohio, said, “To call me a judge is something of a misnomer. I am really sort of a public mortician. In the past eleven years I have presided over the death of twenty-two thousand marriages.”
Yes, many are trying to “fly away on the wings” of suicide, drugs, alcohol, and divorce.
III. Why are we fleeing?
For the same reason David wanted to flee. Why was David wanting to flee?
A. First, he felt outnumbered by his enemies.
He wanted God to deliver him.
Look what he said in Psalm 17:8b-9, “...hide me under the shadow of thy wings, From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.”
Illus: We can almost picture David as the cowboys who lived in the era when there was war with the Indians. David found himself in the dilemma the cowboys often found themselves. Often they were in their covered wagons, alone, when Indians would ride up and surround them and attack. David said, (paraphrase) “God, deliver me from my deadly enemies who surround me.”
Often we feel like that today.
Illus: A pastor called up his pastor friend from another town and told him he was going to resign his church. The pastor who made the call had been used of God to do a great work for the Lord. God had used him to build a church that covered acres of land. Their Christian school ran approximately six hundred students. Nevertheless, Satan had fought him all the way. Over the years some of the folks had become his enemies. The pastor he called made him promise he would not resign until they had a chance to talk. The discouraged pastor agreed to put it off another week.
The next week the pastor friend went to see the discouraged pastor. They decided they would go downtown to eat while they discussed his problems. The pastor that had come to help said, as they traveled, “Have you changed your mind about resigning?” The discouraged pastor said, “No, I am convinced that my work in this town is finished!” He pointed to a man in a nearby car waiting at a red light and said, “You see that man. He was once a drunk. His wife was about to leave him and I led him to the Lord and saved their marriage. He began coming to church. Within a year, he forgot all I had done for him and he began telling lies about me, trying to destroy me as a pastor.”
As they drove on down the street, he said, “See that man, over there, talking with that man?” The preacher acknowledged he saw him. He said, “That man is talented. He can sing better than any man in this town. He came to our church and in a short while, he began having an affair with a woman in our church. Everyone in the church knew about him. I went to him and told him he could not sing in our church again until he publicly confessed his sins and asked God and the people to forgive him. What did he do? He spread the lie that I was involved with a woman!”
As they rode along, that discouraged pastor pointed out person after person who had tried to destroy him, or was trying to destroy him. Later, as he rode back to his church office, he said, “No, I am going to resign. I have too many enemies in this town to overcome....It is time to move on.!” He did exactly that.
In a few short years that wonderful church dwindled down to a handful of people. Today that church’s doors are closed.
I tell you, the answer is NOT to FLEE, BUT to STAND!
B. The second reason was because he had been betrayed by his best friend, Ahithophel.
As you know, no one can bless our hearts like friends can, but also, no one can hurt us the way a friend can hurt us! The devil knows this! David’s good friend, Ahithophel, had “stabbed him in the back” and had broken David’s heart.
C. The third reason David wanted to flee was because his son, Absalom, sought to be ruler of his father’s kingdom and did not care if his father was killed in the process.
David cried out, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” But, even though David felt his enemies were many, that his best friend had “stabbed him in the back,” and his own son was trying to undermine him, God taught him NOT TO FLEE, BUT TO STAND!
Let me show you at least three things from this passage.
1. What David Felt.
a. He felt neglected by God.
Look at verses 1-2. We read, “...Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise...”
It was almost as if David was saying, “God, You have given Your ear to everyone else; now GIVE EAR TO MY PRAYER.”
Do you ever feel this way? Does it seem that God seems to be helping everyone except you? HE FELT NEGLECTED BY GOD.
Also-
b. He felt abused by people.
Look at verse 3. We read, “Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.”
Notice the word “cast.” He said, “...they CAST iniquity upon me...”
That is, the only time they said something about him it was bad! They were more than happy to say bad things about him, but never would they say anything nice. Why not? Look at the last phrase of verse 3, “...in wrath they hate me.” David felt NEGLECTED BY GOD and ABUSED BY UNGODLY MEN. This is what he felt, but look at-
2. What he feared.
Look at verses 4-5. We read, “My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.”
These two verses show a man in a pitiful condition. Notice he said:
“My heart is sore pained within me.”
“...the terrors of death are fallen upon me.”
“...Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me...”
“...and horror hath overwhelmed me.”
When a man says these four things about himself, he is in bad shape!
3. What he fancied.
Look at verses 6-8. We read, “And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.”
David had a fantasy. His fantasy was that he could become a dove with wings and fly away.
Illus: Dr. B. R. Lakin used to say that two of the most important things we need in this life are:
(1) Direction,
(2) Diversion!
That is, sometimes when we know we are following the Lord’s direction, and we are in the heat of battle, it is good to have a little diversion.
• A lot of preachers would never resign their churches in the heat of battle if they would just stop, and begin to fantasize, think about, something that was pleasant.
• A lot of missionaries would never have left their field of labor for the Lord had they taken some time to fantasize about something pleasant.
So many times God’s people are SURROUNDED BY BAD. The only good that can come their way is when they will use the imagination and think about something pleasant!
In David’s case, he said, “...Oh that I had wings like a dove...” To him that seemed it would bring him the relief and refreshing that he needed.
IV. WHERE SHOULD WE FLEE?
Like David, we know WE CAN NOT REMAIN IN AN IMAGINARY WORLD VERY LONG. WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH REALITY. We are NOT to FLEE. God wants to teach us to STAND!
HOW DO WE DO THAT?
Look at verse 16. He was saying that God delivers those who put their trust in Him.
Notice that David said, verse 16, “As for ME...” David recognized he had no control over the lives of others, but he did have control over himself! “As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me.”
Conclusion/Summary:
I wish I could make the decision for others. I know I could make decisions that would change their lives for the better, but I CAN NOT.
But, AS FOR ME...I CAN MAKE THOSE DECISIONS THAT WILL AFFECT ME. And, like David, we all need to say, “I will call upon God...”
Listen, when you call upon God you are not wasting your time! David said, “...and the Lord shall save me.” In verse 17, he said, “Evening, morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear by voice.”
I. WHAT ARE WE FLEEING FROM?
II. HOW ARE WE FLEEING?
III. WHY ARE WE FLEEING?
IV. WHERE SHOULD WE FLEE?
