How far away I would flee! In the wilderness I would remain. Selah
Lo, then would I wander far off. Yet when David was far off, he sighed to be once more near Jerusalem; thus, in our ill estate we ever think the past to be better than the present. We shall be called to fly far enough away, and perchance we shall be loath to go; we need not indulge vain notions of premature escape from earth. And remain in the wilderness.
Prayer is a salve for every sore and relief under every burden. David begs God what he could not obtain from Saul or his enemies: to hear and answer him. His tears and groans, great griefs that cannot be stifled, spring from the enemy's menaces and insults, much as the mob was stirred against the Son of David to cry, Crucify Him.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 55:1-8
Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness,.... So David did when he fled from Absalom, Sa2 15:23; so gracious souls desire to be; not in the wilderness of the people; but to be solitary as in a wilderness, clear of the company of wicked men, as Jeremiah wished for, Jer 9:2; and that they might be more at leisure for...