The Worn-Out Path

A man lived in a cabin in the woods by himself. His was a life of solitude. This was his choice - he liked living a quiet life. Once a year his relatives would visit him and he’d say to himself afterwards, “I remember why I chose to live like a hermit.” People just seemed to rub him the wrong way. He had a difficult time relating to them, even during the first forty years of his life when he was a member of mainstream society and lived in an apartment in the city. It’s not that he was somehow socially inept or even just simply cranky, like good ole’ Ebenezer Scrooge; he was just resigned to the fact that his hope of living a normal life had been thwarted by his general disdain for humanity.

He liked routine. His existence was parochial, consisting of waking up at the same time every morning, working his small farm, serving himself three square meals a day, and going to the local market once a month for supplies. To him, this was his attempt at finding paradise on Earth.

One day, as he was walking back from his well along a worn-out path, he stubbed his toe on “that darn root” and almost spilled his pail of water. Only some of it found its way to the ground, but it was enough to make him curse, “You’d think after ten years you’d learn to step over that treacherous thing!” He looked up and imagined the tree winking at him as if to say, “Gotcha!” He snarled at his phantom antagonist and pressed on with a slight limp, “Boy, that smarts!” By the time he made it back to the cabin, his toe was swollen and throbbing.

As he entered into the cabin, he noticed that the extra time it took him to hobble back had given the wood stove time to burn low. He thought, there’s nothing more maddening first thing in the morning than having to restart the fire! In his haste, he dropped the water bucket down and it landed squarely on his wounded toe. In fact, he couldn’t have aimed it any better if he tried. It seemed like the universe was always picking on his sore spots (get a hang nail and it’s guaranteed to get hung up on everything; bite the side of his cheek and for days he keeps chomping on it; receive a bruise anywhere on his body and it’s like a calling card for random objects to attack that very spot). I should just go back to bed, chalk this day up as a loss, and start over anew in the morning!

God has a sense of humor, doesn’t He? I say this tongue-in-cheek.

I think we’ve all had days like this and I think we all can relate to this man of solitude, if not in reality, then in our own imaginations. I’m not sure about you, but there are times when I wish I could just disappear for a while, take a break from life, and just be left alone. To be fair, I don’t believe this is necessarily evil thinking, for even Jesus took ample time away from those whom He came to save.

But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.
The Word teaches us that it’s acceptable to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of life sometimes to recharge. Jesus is a perfect example of this. However, there has to be a balance. Unless God imposes otherwise, we are to be living for others, not avoiding all contact with them. Granted, this means different things to different people; but, suffice to say that we mustn’t become like the man in the story above. If we ever find ourselves in such a rut, we’ve got to turn the tables around and adopt God’s perspective instead.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
If we live selfishly, we stub our toes, bite our cheeks, and bruise ourselves. God faithfully ensures such open wounds remain fresh reminders that we ought not be shacked up in solitude in self-serving attempts to shut out the rest of the world. How do we do God’s work if we’re never present and accounted for as laborers?

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
In my fictitious story, the man’s day went sour the moment he stubbed his toe. His proposed remedy was to simply throw in the towel and wait for the sun to rise the next day. What he refused to do was step back and ponder whether or not self-isolation was even the solution to his so-called problems. Likewise, while we might find it easier to withdraw from others, God nudges us to rethink our ways. In fact, we ought to be thankful for the times when we stub our toes on the worn-out path, for that’s just the Lord disciplining us for our own benefit. It is often a wake up call. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

Maybe the path most worn-out in your life isn’t the right path for you, even though it’s the most familiar. Have you ever stopped and thought about that? Maybe the reason you’re suffering is because God refuses to allow all of those open wounds to heal (for if He did, you might think He desires that you remain in your current condition). Maybe it’s time to rethink your choices. It’s never too late to change - heck, I’ve got folks in my congregation that weren’t saved until they were in their sixties! Since then, God has been removing layers of scar tissue from their souls as they walk new paths. As He does so, they have become exemplars of, “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:20-21).

As I’ve written to you in the past, this ”submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (v21) is the very essence of living for others, which is the hallmark of love. To love others is to earnestly desire to serve them, to improve their welfare, to extend Christ’s very hand to them as an instrument of righteousness (ala Romans 6:13), especially in time of need. You can’t do any of this if you’re like the man in the story.

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
So, are you at all like this man living in solitude? Do you walk a worn-out path and wonder why you live in pain? Is it possible that it’s time to rethink your life strategy? Could it be that you’re still living for self, holed up in your own “cabin in the woods”, whether literally or figuratively? The Word of God teaches us that living for and loving others results in the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Trust in the Lord. The worn-out path is seldom the right one, though it may be the most normal, comfortable, or familiar of them all. I know it seems easier to close your hearts to a blog like this because it can be so challenging; but, it’s love at stake here, my friend. The day you depart from the worn-out path might be the very day another person discovers the love of Christ through you.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Love in Christ,

Ed Collins