“Why, O Lord, do You make us wander from Your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes that are Your inheritance” (Isa. 63:17).
“Wander from Your ways” is powerfully descriptive as we consider how easy it is to move away from a right relationship to God. It does not take effort to drift. You just quit trying. You lose focus. Staying close to God requires effort. We are not talking about earning our salvation . . . that is not dependent upon our effort, but upon God’s grace. Maintaining and nurturing the relationship will mean giving ourselves to prayer, the Word, fellowship, and worship.
How many have shipwrecked their faith, not by deliberate rebellion, but by drifting away through inattention? Wandering aimlessly through life, we miss the Lord’s presence and His power to transform. Might that even be a picture of the 21st century church today as we wander away from the firm commitment to daily seek His face?
O God, forgive my tendency to wander away from You. I get so caught up in daily activities that I find myself off doing my own thing and not paying attention to You. Like the hymnist I find myself saying, “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.”
