Psalms 55:6-8

He Longs To Escape Into A Safe Place Where He Would Find Rest And No Longer be Subjected To His Trials (Psalms 55:6).

He longs to be able to escape from his present situation into a place where he can be safe from threats, and where he can leave his problems behind him. But life is not like that, and he realises that it cannot be, which is why he restricts the thought to words, and does not carry it into effect. If you have been anointed by God for some responsibility, you cannot just walk away from it.

Psalms 55:6

‘And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!

Then would I fly away, and be at rest,

Lo, then would I wander far off,

I would lodge in the wilderness.' [Selah

I would haste me to a shelter,

From the stormy wind and tempest.'

He thinks enviously of how the dove can fly away to inaccessible crags where it is safe, and wishes that he had wings so that he could fly away to a place of refuge in a similar way and be at rest in his soul. He longs to be able to wander far off and find shelter and security in the wilderness, where he might be alone and secure. (Moses actually did this, but his position had become extreme - Exodus 2:15). If only the opportunity was there he would hastily seek a shelter from the stormy winds and tempests of life. The impression that we have is that he was hanging on precariously. Later, of course, this wish would be partially fulfilled. He would flee into the wilderness with his men. But it was only because he had no alternative.

We note that both here and in Psalms 55:19 ‘selah' interrupts the flow of his words. This is probably in order to confirm his agitation, and to make the listeners concentrate on what has just been said. To lodge in the wilderness was no light matter, for it indicated being apart from men like a fugitive.