Prone to Wander

The goodness of God is always worth waiting for

In 1758 at the age of 22 Robert Robinson wrote these words that the church around the world still sings.

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love.”

We know what the Scriptures say; we know from experience what the goodness of God feels like, and yet we all have those moments we start to wander. I’ve noticed in my own life this happen whenever I start listening more to what others say about God than resting in what God says about Himself.

God said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16–17)

Satan said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4–5)

Adam and Eve believed Satan because they bought into the fundamental lie that the goodness of God is not worth waiting for. This is the same lie that led Abraham to go into Hagar, that caused the Israelites to reject the promised land, that tempted Saul to make his own sacrifices, that compelled David to murder Uriah. It’s hard to wait for a son when your wife is older than any mother you know, to fight giants when you’ve grown up as a slave, to stand tall when the crowds start to doubt you, or to confess your sin at the risk of public shame. So instead, we wander.

We start to believe what the world says about God, and then we get angry with Him for breaking promises He never actually made in the first place.

God never promised us good health on earth, only healing in heaven. He never promised us the riches of this world, only that we could store up treasures where neither moth nor rust destroy. He never promised us that we would be free of temptation, only that His grace would be sufficient.

The goodness of God is always worth waiting for. But maybe today you don’t feel that way. Maybe you’re questioning if any of this is worth it all. If that’s you, it’s time to go back to listening to what God say’s about Himself. As Karl wrote in The 7 Resolutions, “Spiritual disciplines are not how we prove our love for God; they’re where God proves His love for us.”

Shawn

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