Friday, November 12, 2021

Losing the path

Some of what I have written on this blog is a consequence of real passion. A shocking number of things I have written here were outgrowth of hearing a recorded sermon, or reading an article online or in a magazine – or even watching a video on YouTube – where someone says or writes something I consider both wrong and dangerous. And sometimes the comments section will set me straight, sometimes the comments section reinforces my beliefs, and sometimes it just sits empty.

There are a surprising number of emails I have gotten over the last 14 years (or so) from people who stumbled across this blog. Some of those email exchanges turn into genuine (but remote) friendships, others don't really go very far.

As an aside: I don't try very hard to maintain my anonymity on this blog, but I try "not very hard." I generally don't mention where I work, or where I live, etc. I'm sure anyone who cares can figure those out. I try to extend the same lazy anonymity to the comment section, so I try to avoid giving away too much about people who leave comments. 

I should say, my favorite thing about this blog has been the people I've "met" from it. One or two I was privileged to meet in real life. And of course it goes the other way too: sometimes a real life friend reads my blog and that can set off some conversations too.

When I started this blog, it was more "for me" than "for you." I still read and re-read this blog, because I lose my way a lot. Sometimes I'm like the people in Psalm 107:1–7, who start out on a clear path, but somehow that path gets blurry, or lost, and they find themselves wandering. Well, I find myself wandering a lot, and when I realize I'm sort of wandering, it's helpful to look back at a time when I could see the path. 

The Lord told the Ephesians to remember "from whence ye are fallen" (Revelation 2:5). This blog is one of the things that helps me remember, when I realize I've lost sight of the path.

I was very young when I came to know the Lord. I've been at this "walking with the Lord" thing for probably 45 years. I don't do it very well, but I've been doing it a long time. In that time, I've learned that it's really easy to lose sight. It's hard to believe, when you're caught up in godly zeal, that you'll ever get dragged into the mundane. But you will. 

Don't confuse losing sight with unbelief. There's a huge difference between losing sight and losing faith. 

When you realize you've lost sight – and you will – then it's not time to hide, it's time to cry out to the Lord. He knows us, He remembers that we are dust. He isn't surprised when we lose sight, or when we sin. He's not even surprised when we sin really, really bad. The very best thing you can do when you realize you've lost the path is to stop walking. Your walking is making it worse. Stop and cry out to Him.

Earlier this year I got lost when I was out hunting. It was oddly similar to Psalm 107:1–7.  I kept my bearings very well, but I had forgotten what the map looked like, so I was actually going parallel to the road I was trying to intercept. I had remembered it running east-west, when it actually heads south for a very long way before coming back east. In fact, I only realized what had happened when I popped out of the treeline at a point I'd only ever seen when gazing across a gully. 

Part of the problem was that I was keeping up a good pace: when you're going the wrong way, the faster you go, the more lost you become.

Once I realized what I had done wrong, I took my compass out of my pack for the first time in decades and took some bearings: the sun was going down quickly, and I wanted to be sure I knew where I was going while there was still daylight left. That adventure ended sort of anti-climatically: I had hiked a trail through the bottom of the gully before, and was able to get back to that trail before dark. I was able to get back to my truck just after dark.

The point is, when you lose sight of the path, going quickly doesn't help. If you're not on the path, every step might well be taking you further away. So when you realize you've lost the path, don't keep walking. Stop and ask for help. "Lord, save me!" (Matthew 14:30).

I had something else I was going to write about, but I think it'll have to wait for another time.

Elk season this year was one misadventure after another. One very experienced hunter I know says, "You have to walk 500 miles for each elk you shoot." If I had set out to prove him right, I'm not sure what more I could have done this year.




 


13 comments:

Robert said...

Mark, I want to thank you for all you have done to help us over many years through your blog while writing for yourself. What impressed me from the time I first read it was your honesty in saying out loud what I thought about the testimony but had been too afraid to express to others.

This post touches me.

JND in his Lectures on the Prophetical Addresses to the Seven Churches talks about Satan's continual attempt to move us forwards and therefore further away from God.

"I would here take the opportunity of making a remark on the word "development," which Satan has brought in as a very favourite word. Now there is perfect and entire infidelity involved in this thought of development in the church of the Living God. There is nothing in God to be developed; He is the perfect unchangeable source of all"

Susan said...

Mark - I've been following your blog ever since MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
"Billy says it all"
What a journey it's been. I consider you a friend(but remote) in Christ and Assembly Quest a wonderful place for genuine Christian fellowship.
Your ministry is greatly appreciated.



HandWrittenWord said...

I first came across this blog many years age while researching Dispensationalism in general and Pauline Dispensationalism in particular (for the record I am a Pre-Trib Rapture Dispensationalist). Be that as it may, I too became a "remote" friend. I fully second the comments of Robert and Susan above.

You are a blessing, Mark, and you and your family are in my prayers daily.

Susan said...

Classic Pauline Pre-Trib Rapture Dispensationalist here as well, HWW!

Maranatha!!!

HandWrittenWord said...

Maranatha indeed!

Rodger said...

I’m not sure when I first came here, Assembly Quest just kept coming up in my googlings. “Take Me To Ramsgate” strikes me as the definitive post when I think of this blog. We first connected when I was looking up an allusion of JND to obscure comments he had made on Deut. 32. I figured you had exhaustive knowledge of JND, Mark. You didn’t, but the correspondence that followed has been worth more. Still trying to get you back to Canada.
I would underline what Robert said: your honesty is what makes this blog something I always come back to. Many thanks, brother.

Anonymous said...

GH out of SA here: I started reading the blog somewhere around 2010, may even have been a bit earlier. Went all the way back to the first post and read through it all up to a certain point and then intermittently read posts afterwards. It has been a good read, thank you for it all Mark.

clumsy ox said...

Sorry to disappoint, Rodger. I DEFINITELY don't have exhaustive knowledge of JND's writings.

Thank you for all the kind comments, everyone.

Robert said...

Mark - could I make a request for a future post? Given the name of the blog and how it all started, would you be willing to summarise your experience so far? Has the quest come to an end? Or have you found a way to live without having to pursue it any further?

clumsy ox said...

Robert, I've tried to write that many times over the last couple years, and given up in frustration. I shall try again :D

Robert said...

You could always turn it into a board game 😁

Anonymous said...

Great article that has helped me recently.
https://web.archive.org/web/20100613120853/http://withchrist.org/MJS/problems.htm

clumsy ox said...

Thanks for the link!