“I have wandered away like a lost sheep; come and find me, for I have not forgotten your commands.” Psalm 119:176 NLT
“Oh, to grace how great a debtor, Daily I’m constrained to be, Let that 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, oh, take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above” Robert Robinson
‘Come Thou Fount’ is an old hymn found in many church hymnals and even sung occasionally in churches today. Written in 1757 by Robert Robinson, a Methodist minister at the time, it was reflection of his life in the past and would prove true again in his future years. Robinson was uncontrollable as a child and teenager after his father died when he was only eight years old. That all changed when he and his friends attended a George Whitefield meeting to heckled him, but the Lord had other plans and he was converted through Whitefield’s preaching. Writing the hymn just two years after his conversion his past wanderings were fresh in his mind. In his later years he wandered between several denominations in his pastorate and was known to be unhappy and prone to wander.
There is not a Christian alive today who has never wandered. Not you. Not me. We are all prone to wander away from the Lord. Some of us are neglecting prayer and Bible reading. Some are absent in the gathering of the saints for worship. Some of us are indifferent to the needs of others. There are some of us who are caught up in some sin, and others who turned a blind eye in not helping such a one only to repeat the matter. These may be harsh words, but the Bible says, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.” (Is.53:6 nlt)
Although we wander, we have a Savior who has His eye on us, going after us and bringing us back into the fold. In Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep, Jesus says, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?” (Mt.18:12 nlt) Our Lord will not leave you abandoned in your season of wandering.
If you have wandered from the Lord and think there is no way back you are wrong. He is searching for you. Those nudges you are sensing are from the Lord. The uncomfortable feelings you are having as well as those well-timed words from a friend are also from the Lord. Pray with the psalmist in Psalm 119, “I have wandered away like a lost sheep; come and find me, for I have not forgotten your commands.” And then sing, “Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.”
