Escapism ... run to the cave! Psalm 31

1-2 I run to you, GOD; I run for dear life. Don't let me down!
Take me seriously this time!
Get down on my level and listen,
and please—no procrastination!
Your granite cave a hiding place,
your high cliff aerie a place of safety.

3-5 You're my cave to hide in,
my cliff to climb.
Be my safe leader,
be my true mountain guide.
Free me from hidden traps;
I want to hide in you.
I've put my life in your hands.
You won't drop me,
you'll never let me down.

Last night our Tuesday night discussion group looked at escapism. We talked about all the reasons why people might want to escape from dealing with painful reality and the various kinds of escapism … What is the difference between escapism and just coping? What kinds of escape are potentially productive and beneficial as compared to escapism that is destructive and negative.

I shared with them two examples of healthy, productive escape: David and Job. When David returned to Ziklag with his men and found their wives and children abducted and their goods taken, they wept bitterly and the men talked about stoning David as their leader. But David “strengthened himself in the Lord.”

Job takes the all-time world record for the classic bad day. He received four or five pieces of terrible, tragic news in a sequence, one after another. The final word was that all of his children were killed. His response was to rip his clothes, shave his head in a sign of mourning and to begin to worship the Lord.

There is difference between escaping from truth, and escaping to the Lord. Jesus said “I am the Truth…” and he also said, “You shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” The only way to face and overcome life’s painful realities is to find a way to turn to truth, not run from it, and embrace the truth, painful though it may be.

This Psalm of David, reflecting many of the characteristics of depression, shows David running to God. In God he finds a “granite cave a hiding place,” a “high cliff aerie a place of safety.”