I cannot read these words without thinking about Southwest Airlines and their Wanna Get Away advertising campaign. I was supposed to board a flight for Michigan yesterday. My flight was canceled the day before due to the anticipated weather we are now experiencing. Because of the thin layer of ice on everything, not much of anyone is going anywhere. 

When have you wanted to get away but could not? No doubt this leads us to recall painful memories. I am sorry about that. I really am. We have all been there and done that and yet each of us knows a depth of grief and anxiety unique to ourselves. No one can fully feel our individual pain no matter how empathetic they are. 

Last week, two pastors told their Wanna Get Away stories. One has led his church to become one of the most significant contributors to the Kingdom of God in his state. Over the decade of his leadership, this church has excelled in every normal marker of church health and vitality. Even so, he is experiencing betrayal that may well lead him away from the church he has served so well and his granddaughter who lives nearby as he leaves for another position. 

The founding pastor of a new church start a decade ago which has become a church of thousands today is experiencing betrayal. A staff member has rallied several other staff members and key lay leaders to leave and start their own church. 

My pastor neighbor a few doors down and his family received the news a week-and-a-half ago that their young-adult son had died of an overdose. 

In Ukraine today, a mother huddles with her children as the war machines roll by. She wonders if she will ever see her husband again. The children ask if they are going to die. 

If we sat in a circle together this morning, we could multiply these stories. Pain is forever plentiful.

How do we cope with such gut-wrenching agony? 

King David is one of the spiritual giants of all time. He gives us a pattern for prayer when our emotions are white-hot and our fears send shivers to our souls. The first thing he did was go to God in prayer. 

• David pled with God to listen and to intervene. 
• He told God why he required his attention and action. 
• He declared his inability to save himself.
• He confessed how he wanted to run away from his problems (verses 6-8).
• He suggested actions God could take to straighten out the mess he was in (verses 9-11). 
• He addressed his betrayer in his prayer (verses 12-14). Not only had David lost peace and safety, he had lost a dear and trusted friend. 
• Knowing the conspiracy has grown, David suggests a permanent end to this temporary problem (verse 16).

David rehearsed his well-worn actions in times of trouble (verses 16-19). His first thought was to run to God rather than to run away. As God had always saved and delivered him, he had every confidence God would again save and deliver him.

David shakes his head in amazement at this friend who smiled in his face while holding a knife behind his back (verses 20 and 21). 

Finally, David gives himself a good talking-to. Consider verses 22 and 23 alongside the story we find in 1 Samuel 30, particularly verse 6:

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