Two Ways of Seeking Rest

“Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.”’ — Psa.m lv. 6.

‘‘Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.’’ — Psa.m lv. 22.

Ir is surprising that these two sentences are found within the same psalm. They are so unlike each other as to be uncongenial and contradictory. One speaks of seeking rest by flying away; the other speaks of seeking rest by laying his burden upon God. One method is by flight; the other method is by trust. And these two strangely different things are found within the borders of a single psalm.

There are many other psalms where the changes of thought, and purpose, and emotion are just as revolutionary. Indeed the change is so startling in one or two of the psalms that the transition is considered by some scholars to be forced and unnatural, and they suggest the possibility that perhaps two very dissimilar psalms have somehow been joined together. One was born in the merry month of May, the other was born in a sunless winter month, and somehow or other they have been forced into very unnatural wedlock. But I do not think we need invite an assumption of this kind. Soul-movement is often extraordinarily swift when we get into the presence of God, and these psalms are the audible expression of men who are engaged in divine communion. These men are closeted with the Lord, and it often happens that fellowship which begins in weariness and tears passes quickly into a strangely bright and buoyant joy, like the coming of a blue sky after a heavy thunder-storm, when the flowers reopen again and the birds begin to sing. And so I do not think that the swift transition is unnatural. When the Psalmist entered into communion with the Lord he felt like running away from his appointed task. ‘‘O that I had wings like a dove, then would I fly away!” Before he had been long in communion with God, his soul was resting, though in the midst of convulsive circumstance, for he had cast his burden on the Lord.

Flight is never a remedy either for spiritual unrest or spiritual fatigue. We simply cannot run away from our deepest troubles. If we could run away from them it would be true that the gift of God can be bought with money. All that we should need to do would be to put down our money, book our passage, fly to another clime, and the thing is done, and the release is won. No, it simply cannot be done. We can run away from our tasks, but the way of desertion never leads to the fair and sunny realm of peace.

“Then would I fly away and be at rest!” Oh no, he would not be at rest; rest can never be found along that road. Restfulness, by which I mean serenity of mind, the deep assurance of union with the ultimate things of life, does not dwell in any place where the deserter makes his home. The deserter’s land is full of ironical and satirical presences, and they fill his ways with mocking laughter.

We may fly away from our tasks as Jonah did when he turned his back upon Nineveh and made his way to Tarshish. Jonah said to himself, ‘‘ I will fly away and be at rest.” But he found no rest. The stormy seas which he encountered were only the symbol of his own restless and tumultuous life. The task which had been laid upon him was indeed a hard task, and a man might pardonably shrink from the burden. But he should have engaged the will, which he used in flight, in casting his burden upon the Lord, and the Lord who had commanded the task would have borne the load.

Sometimes we try to fly away from our troubles. ‘“‘I will just go off to California for a few months!” “I will get away to the South of France for a winter!” California and South of France have treasures of sweetness and sunshine, but they are not necessarily the home of God’s peace. The ironical sorrow sits on the shoulders of the traveller and goes with him every inch of the way, and in the sunnier clime it throws its disturbing shadow over everything.

This Psalmist wished for wings that he might fly away. There is another man mentioned in the scriptures, who rested in the Lord and found wings. And this was his testimony. ‘“They that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles.” But these wings are not for the flight of desertion, they are for the strong and swift ministries of service. ‘“‘ With twain they did fly,’ but they flew in the way of their appointed task, and they finished the work which God gave them to do.