There are many examples of good and necessary prayers in the Bible. Let’s look today at Psalm 119:10, “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.” To wander is to rove; to ramble here and there without any certain course of object in view; In a moral sense, to stray; to deviate; to depart from duty. There are all sorts of wandering. There are wanderings of the mind. There are wanderings of the heart. There are wanderings of the life. We are all prone to these. The song says, “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.”
There are two types of wandering: Internal and External. Proverbs 21:16 states, “The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding…” This is an internal wandering. Proverbs 27:8 states, “As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.” This is an external wandering. Scripture identifies the problem and then gives us the solution to wandering, whether it be internal or external. Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.” Here is the solution: Isaiah 30:21, God says, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” Psalm 119:105, “Thy word (the Bible) is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Isaiah 55:7 shows us an external and internal wandering and the solution. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” There are those that are many miles away from God in their hearts, but God is only a prayer away!
I was a wandering sheep, I did not love the fold:
I did not love my Shepherd’s voice, I would not be controlled:
I was a wayward child, I did not love my home;
I did not love my Father’s voice, I loved afar to roam
I’ve wandered far away from God – Now I’m coming home;
The paths of sin too long I’ve trod – Lord, I’m coming home.
A father was telling his young son the story of a young sheep that one day found a hole in the fence and wandered away from the fold. He told of the terrors and dangers faced by the sheep. He told of how the shepherd went out into the cold, stormy night seeking the sheep, and the joy when he found it and returned it to his home. The boy listened with rapt attention to this thrilling story. Then, as his father finished the tale, he asked, “Did he fix the hole in the fence?” YOU NEED TO FIX THE HOLE IN THE FENCE.
Psalm 17:4, “Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.”
“The difference between mercy and grace? Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance. Grace gave him a feast.” Max Lucado. Read Luke chapter 15.