Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me. – Psalm 142:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 14, 2019): Psalm 142

Austrian writer and satirist Karl Kraus argues that “the world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.” Kraus’s statement may be an argument made from personality. I have known many people who simply need to be around people, any people, no matter the essential character that these people might possess. From their point of view, being alone is just not tolerable. Loneliness is a prison from which they need to be released. But I understand Kraus’s words. I value my time alone. I am lucky; I have people in my life that I enjoy being around. But there are people with whom we share this world who seem to be able to do nothing but vex our souls.

David was not sitting in a physical prison as he wrote these words. And he was not with people who vexed his soul. The people who surrounded him were his friends and allies. They were the supporters who had bound their lives to David, regardless of the trouble in which the young poet might find himself. They were also the alienated. They were the ones who wanted to challenge the current king sitting on the throne of Israel. They were the outcasts, the ones in trouble themselves, who were searching for the community of other outcasts. This was David’s prison.

There is no doubt that David would value his experience with this group of men. Some lessons would be learned in these days of struggle. The suffering during this time in David’s life would shape the king that he would become. And yet it was also a prison from which he longed to escape. David yearned for the day when he could simply exist out in the open and not worry about the Doeg the Edomite’s who might see him. He longed for the time when he would be able to sing his song of praise to God without having to ask God to deliver him from the evil that seemed to be forever following him. He longed for the time in which his supporters would be able to gather around him and revel in the goodness of God

In hindsight, we know that more of David’s supporters were rallying to support him, but the time that David longed for was still a distance in the future. And the time would never arrive when David’s prayers would not include a petition of protection. But better days, days outside of the prison that David was currently experiencing, were on their way. And these would be days in which David and his friends would experience the full goodness of God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 23