Running Away is Not The Answer

Yesterday I deleted this blog for the reason that a very undesirable site has linked itself with The Dappled Path.  My response is as it always is, that being flight.  I deleted the blog thinking that I had no other recourse but thankfully when you delete a Blogger blog in the spur of the moment, they give you time to change your mind and the blog can be restored as it was by me a few minutes ago.

I have worked years on this blog and was very disheartened and concerned about the undesirable site but I thought this morning, they linked to me, I did not link to them.  Their site brings traffic to this blog and since I am trying to show forth the Word of God, perhaps someone who came here from there has read something that touched them.  Perhaps they were convicted of their need for the Saviour.  Perhaps they were saved by grace through faith in Christ's redeeming precious blood and his taking upon himself the penalty for their sin.     I can only hope that this has been the case.

I can do nothing about that site but since they linked to me and not vice versa,  I will just carry on.  They are not visible on this blog and that is a good thing.

So onward and upward, and as I have said elsewhere, let the Lord God bring to this little blog those for whom it was intended.
_____________________________
vcg

The Child of God Walking in Darkness

The Child of God Walking in Darkness - Psalm 55

King David wrote Psalm 55 when he was betrayed by his son Absalom

Focusing on V22 "Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."  What is this psalm about?  What experiences does this psalm delineate and explain to the child of God?  "Betrayed"..  This psalm was written by King David when he was betrayed by his son Absolom.  It was written at the time of rebellion among God's covenant people in Jerusalem.  We see in this psalm an expression of the broken heart of King David.  We see the great anxiety and stress and pain which David's heavy burden thrusts upon him.  "The child of God walking in darkness."  How relevant is this, because God's people do not live every day in sunshine.  Sometimes the sun of the Christian life is hidden by the clouds of a storm.  This psalm helps those who are at the extremities of experience.  This man of God is in extreme anguish of soul.  Have you ever felt like this?

1. Condition of God's child.  V1 "Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication."  God's child wants to be listened to..not primarily talked to, but listened to by God.

2. V2 "Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise"  Mourn means overcome, restless.  Make a noise means distraught.  Moral is very low, he is overcome and driven to distraction.  Serious anxiety and depression.

3. V4-5 "My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.  Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me."  He has inward emotional pain.  Fearfulness has come upon him.  Depression has come upon him.  Deep emotional pain, overwhelming feelings have come upon him.

4. V6-8 "And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!  for then would I fly away, and be at rest.  Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness.  Selah.  I would haste my escape from the windy storm and tempest."  I wish I was a bird, I would fly away from all problems, a desire to avoid the burden of the trial.  These verses teach that the psalmist wants to flee from the problem he was faced with.  It doesn't bring peace, the problem is still there.

The Foolishness of a Flight Response

Psalm 22:19 "But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me."

I confess to having a flight response whenever anything gets overwhelming.  This morning, dealing with a dog who is not really a dog but a toddler in a dog costune (a very stubborn Shih Tzu) my flight response kicked in..  I wanted to take the dog to the SPCA, and then things got worse and I felt like a complete loser, and that this blog served no purpose at all.  In this frame of mind I deleted the blog and also deleted all the files I was going to post here.  It doesn't matter about my little stories of life, but I was making notes from sermons by Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey Congregational (Reformed) because his sermons are always a blessing to me.  I had uploaded several posts of these sermons had had one more but in my state of mind this morning, it was one that got deleted.

But thankfully most of the files are located elsewhere, my little stories are in another folder and Rev. Dowling's sermons are online at Sermon Audio and also some on Youtube, so I can re-listen to them and make more notes.  Perhaps the second time around the notes will be even better.

And thankfully, Blogger allows the deleted blogs to be re-established losing nothing.  This is very helpful to someone like me who acts in haste more times than I should.

I began this blog to hopefully share God's grace to me, and biblical articles because we are commanded to preach the gospel to all the world and this is my little effort.

Thank the Lord that I was able to bring it back, and I pray that future posts will reach all those for whom they were intended.