from Lenae, GEMS training Manager
ESCAPISM
MENTALITY
Cast your cares
on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
Psalm 55:22
Escapism: the avoidance of reality by
absorption of the mind in entertainment or in an imaginative situation,
activity, etc.
I’m
not a big fan of going to the dentist, which directly correlates to having a
lot of dental work done as a child. I remember opening my mouth wide for shots
of Novocain and being told to think happy thoughts. Go to your happy place! In
other words, avoid the reality of the present by imagining something pleasant.
In
Psalm 55 we learn that even the Shepherd King David had times when he wanted to
escape his reality. His thoughts were troubled and distraught. His heart was in
anguish. Fear, trembling, and horror overwhelmed him. The wounds were deep and
the pain intense; David wanted to escape.
He 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” (vs.
6-8).
Can
you identify? Have you ever wished for wings that would take you from the
reality of laundry piles and runny noses to the seas of the Caribbean or the
heights of the Swiss Alps? Have you ever wished you could flee from a storm
brewing within your family, your workplace, or your health situation? Do you
escape your reality by setting your mind on the weekend? Do you call on Calgon®,
coffee, or chocolate to take you away? Where do you flee when pressures and
problems overwhelm you?
We
live in a world that medicates itself with temporary pleasures that provide no
true source of hope and healing. David points us to our Deliverer and Rescuer. I call to God, and the LORD saves me, He
hears my voice, He ransoms me unharmed (vs. 16, 17b, 18a).
Instead
of calling for an escape from our reality, we should be casting our reality and
its cares on the LORD (v. 22). Cast your
cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall
(v. 22).
Notice
what Scripture doesn’t promise. When we cast our cares on God, He doesn’t
promise to remove our problems or pain. God doesn’t guarantee an exit door or
escape route. He promises something infinitely better. He will sustain you (v. 22). God will hold you, guide you, and
nourish you, right now in the midst of the storm. He will not let you fall.
That’s His promise for those who put their trust in Him (v. 23b).
Think on it: If you could have wings of
a dove, what problem would you fly from today? Choose to trade in your escapism
mentality for full trust in the LORD, your Deliverer.
I am the subject of
depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever gets to such extremes
of wretchedness as I go to. But I always get back again by this: I know I
trust Christ. I have no reliance but in Him. Because He lives, I
shall live also, and I spring to my legs again and fight with my depressions of
spirit and my downcast soul and get the victory through it. So may you
to, and so you must, for there is no other way of escaping from it. In
your most depressed seasons, you are to get joy and peace through believing.
Charles
Spurgeon
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