Silas
Beloved of All
Your openness about wandering like a lost sheep is something every honest believer can understand, and Psalm 119:176 gives such a tender and truthful picture of it. The psalmist loves the Word of God and yet confesses that he is prone to drift, and his hope is not in his own ability to find his way back but in the Shepherd who comes to seek him.
That is the heart of the gospel. Scripture says there is none who seeks after God on his own. Apart from grace we do not naturally pursue Him. We often pursue relief, peace of mind, or the satisfaction of our own appetites, while thinking we are pursuing God. Our lives can become governed by the flesh, by physical and immediate needs, rather than by the Spirit. And when we drift, it is not always a passive wandering. At times we run from Him, we turn from His love and His rule over us, and we look at the obstacles in front of us instead of the power of God to deliver us from them.
Yet the Lord is the Good Shepherd. Jesus said He is the shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep and who leaves the ninety nine to go after the one that is lost until He finds it. Isaiah also says we all like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way, and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The psalmist can pray seek your servant because he knows God is a seeking God. He does not force Himself on a heart or a people, but He faithfully pursues His own. If you belong to Christ, He will never depart from you. Even when you feel distant, His Word remains and His Spirit still draws you back.
God also keeps us in ways we do not always perceive at first. Sometimes through disappointment, or through a sense of emptiness, or even through being brought very low, He is getting our attention and keeping our soul from the pit. He is protecting us from a path that would destroy us. His timing in this is perfect, and He desires to shine light into hearts that have become darkened, just as He commanded light to shine out of darkness at creation.
So to your question, are there areas where we have wandered, the answer for most of us is yes. It may show itself in being governed more by fleshly desires than by the Spirit, in looking at giants and problems rather than at the power of God, in trying to find satisfaction by wandering from sea to sea and from place to place, or in blaming God when things go wrong instead of humbly seeking His guidance and repenting. The way back is not complicated. It is to seek the Lord Himself, not just tranquility or relief, and to seek Him on His terms. He is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. He cannot be localized to a place or a formula, and He is not confined to one method. We need to continually seek His wisdom for each situation and let Him be in control, doing His work His way.
He also does not require you to be extraordinary to be restored and used. He delights to use ordinary people who will simply inquire of Him and desire to do His will, as David did, a man after His own heart because he sought to fulfill all His will and continually asked for the counsel of the Lord. And He calls us to keep His Word without adding to it or taking away from it, remembering His commands even when we feel lost, letting that Word be the steady guide that leads us beside still waters and restores our soul.
If you feel you have strayed, bring that honestly to Him today. Confess where you have been governed by the flesh or distracted by other pursuits, ask Him to govern you by His Spirit, and ask Him to seek and restore you. Trust that His grace is sufficient when you come to the end of your own ability, and that His power is greater than any obstacle that makes you feel stuck. Thank Him that because Jesus laid down His life, you can be forgiven and brought back into close fellowship.
May the Lord who is your Shepherd hear your prayer, seek you, restore you, and guide you again in His right paths for His name's sake, and may His Word remain alive in your heart as your light and your guide.
That is the heart of the gospel. Scripture says there is none who seeks after God on his own. Apart from grace we do not naturally pursue Him. We often pursue relief, peace of mind, or the satisfaction of our own appetites, while thinking we are pursuing God. Our lives can become governed by the flesh, by physical and immediate needs, rather than by the Spirit. And when we drift, it is not always a passive wandering. At times we run from Him, we turn from His love and His rule over us, and we look at the obstacles in front of us instead of the power of God to deliver us from them.
Yet the Lord is the Good Shepherd. Jesus said He is the shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep and who leaves the ninety nine to go after the one that is lost until He finds it. Isaiah also says we all like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way, and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The psalmist can pray seek your servant because he knows God is a seeking God. He does not force Himself on a heart or a people, but He faithfully pursues His own. If you belong to Christ, He will never depart from you. Even when you feel distant, His Word remains and His Spirit still draws you back.
God also keeps us in ways we do not always perceive at first. Sometimes through disappointment, or through a sense of emptiness, or even through being brought very low, He is getting our attention and keeping our soul from the pit. He is protecting us from a path that would destroy us. His timing in this is perfect, and He desires to shine light into hearts that have become darkened, just as He commanded light to shine out of darkness at creation.
So to your question, are there areas where we have wandered, the answer for most of us is yes. It may show itself in being governed more by fleshly desires than by the Spirit, in looking at giants and problems rather than at the power of God, in trying to find satisfaction by wandering from sea to sea and from place to place, or in blaming God when things go wrong instead of humbly seeking His guidance and repenting. The way back is not complicated. It is to seek the Lord Himself, not just tranquility or relief, and to seek Him on His terms. He is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. He cannot be localized to a place or a formula, and He is not confined to one method. We need to continually seek His wisdom for each situation and let Him be in control, doing His work His way.
He also does not require you to be extraordinary to be restored and used. He delights to use ordinary people who will simply inquire of Him and desire to do His will, as David did, a man after His own heart because he sought to fulfill all His will and continually asked for the counsel of the Lord. And He calls us to keep His Word without adding to it or taking away from it, remembering His commands even when we feel lost, letting that Word be the steady guide that leads us beside still waters and restores our soul.
If you feel you have strayed, bring that honestly to Him today. Confess where you have been governed by the flesh or distracted by other pursuits, ask Him to govern you by His Spirit, and ask Him to seek and restore you. Trust that His grace is sufficient when you come to the end of your own ability, and that His power is greater than any obstacle that makes you feel stuck. Thank Him that because Jesus laid down His life, you can be forgiven and brought back into close fellowship.
May the Lord who is your Shepherd hear your prayer, seek you, restore you, and guide you again in His right paths for His name's sake, and may His Word remain alive in your heart as your light and your guide.
