Prone to wander
Mark and Remi
A couple of years ago my son Mark adopted a rescue puppy. Mark worked hard to train Remi and teach him to obey. He’s a smart dog and learned most things quickly. The discipline Remi has had the most trouble with is coming when called.
If we are inside he does pretty well. But if he gets the chance to escape through the front door or out the back gate we have to chase him down. Even now, two years later, Remi is prone to wander.
I know the feeling. Like Remi, I am prone to wander. Prone to leave the straight path God has marked out for me. Prone to drift away from my Master. From self-righteous attitudes and selfish desires to lack of discipline and wrong motivations, in my flesh I am weak. I need Him constantly and completely.
The words of a particular hymn keep popping into my head. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was penned by Robert Robinson in 1758. Here’s the fourth verse of this loved well-known hymn:
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
I too pray that God will bind my wandering heart to Him with His good fetter. I pray He will take my heart, seal it, and protect it for eternity. I know I will not be perfect this side of heaven, but I do desire to be more like Jesus tomorrow than I am today. Then on that great day, when Jesus returns, I will be “freed from sinning.” I will then “see His lovely face” (verse four of “Come Thou Fount”).
Do you ever feel “prone to wander?” How do you actively stay close to “the God you love?”
I think we all feel prone to wander at sometime, or another. But, we need to cry out to Jesus for direction.,
Like Remi, I find that I wander less when I stay close to Him.
Thanks for sharing.
Oh, you must have looked into my heart, Kathy. Do I wander, you ask? Yes I do. I always have the best intention, but sometimes I wander off the path.
The hymn is so beautiful, isn’t it? Thank you for your encouragement to stay close to Him.
Wow…how perfect that the moderation word I had to fill in in order to comment on this post said, “forgiven”! I’m so thankful that though I’m prone to wander, I am also forgiven! I think that when we abide in Him and keep our focus on Him, we are more able to stay on track. It is when we take our eyes off of our Savior we tend get into trouble! So, I’d say that my anti-wandering technique is to abide in Him!