Get Away! -- Psalm 55 (NLT)

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By Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

On the 6 am Daily Lenten Season Devotion, Pastor Kenneth Marcus ministered a T.G.I.F. “Got To Get Away” message from Psalms 55.  Confession: I’ve never really been a fan of the Old Testament Psalms, unless I could find one with a beat and a groove.   A couple of Throwback Thursday triggers took me back to the Big House I once escaped.  At one point on a timeline I monitor, Arlene Stradford owned a stack of Earth Wind and Fire albums and other such vinyl-coated psalms.  Then Jerome Simpson threw back to Bev’s all too familiar afro hair-due.   

Psalm 55 -- For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments.

1 Listen to my prayer, O God.     Do not ignore my cry for help!

2 Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles.

3 My enemies shout at me, making loud and wicked threats.

They bring trouble on me and angrily hunt me down.

4 My heart pounds in my chest.   The terror of death assaults me.

5 Fear and trembling overwhelm me,  and I can’t stop shaking.

6 Oh, that I had wings like a dove; then I would fly away and rest!

7 I would fly far away to the quiet of the wilderness. Interlude

8 How quickly I would escape— far from this wild storm of hatred.

EARTH WIND, AND FIRE -- "Getaway"

So you say you tried

But you just can't find the pleasure

People around you givin' you pressure

Try to resist all the hurt that's all

Around you

If you taste it, it will haunt you

So come, take me by the hand,

We'll leave this troubled land

I know we can, I know we can, I know we can, I know we can

Getaway

Watch for the signs

That lead in the right direction

Not to heed them is a bad reflection

They'll show you the way

Into what you have been seeking

To ignore them you're only cheating

So come, take me by the hand,

We'll leave this troubled land

I know we can getaway

Getaway

Lay awake every night

Till the sun comes up in the morning

Nothing exciting, it all seems boring

Make up your mind which way to go about it

To your road, you just don't doubt it.

So come, take me by the hand,

We'll leave this troubled land

I know we can, I know we can, I know we can, I know we can

Getaway