Psalm 119: 175-176…the ending
“Invigorate my life so that I can praise you even more, and may your truth be my strength!
I’ll never forget what you’ve taught me, Lord, but when I wander off and lose my way, come after me, for I am your beloved.”
That’s a perfect snapshot of who we are in real life.
On fire for God one minute…lost in the brambles the next.
We want oh-so-much to keep God close as we walk our own path but eventually for one reason or a thousand, we meander off and lose our way.
We ask for His truth to be our strength and then trust Him enough to ask Him to infuse vitality into our lives. We pray for vim and vigor.
And in exchange for all this, we promise to praise. Talk about a lop-sided relationship!
We become like Peter, and get all pumped-up-excited and vow that we will NEVER, EVER, EVER forget what He has taught us.
We fervently mean it when we say it. We really do.
But then like the psalmist, we find ourselves asking God to come after us, WHEN inevitably we wander.
The psalmist says WHEN because he knows he WILL wander and WILL lose his way. We are just like him.
We are prone to wander.
In Robert Robinson’s song from 1758, “Come Thou Fount”, these universal words are found:
“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.” *
No matter where we wander, in all our trials, we can turn to Him…even in advance and as many times as we need.
Fortunately for us, He is the God of second chances.
He will take our bruised hearts and seal them with His love.
We have hope because we know WHO God is!
He is the God who will come and find us wherever we have gone, no matter if it is the depths of despair, the grime of the gutter, or the hiding place in our souls.
He will come for us. He will find us.
He always does.
Always.
And when we are at our lowest low and do not believe we deserve yet another rescue, He will breathe life into us.
He will invigorate us and fill us up!
He already knows our weaknesses…and he binds them in the sure & solid strength of His love.
He takes our mistakes as well as our very real sins and with his mighty hand throws them to the farthest corner from where we stand, and says He will remember them no more. That is love, sweet and holy love.
Beloveds, we are loved by the almighty God!
He will come for us…rescue us.
And when He does, He will say…Come! Follow me.
For I will give you abundant life!
Every. Single. Time.
* “Come Thou Fount of every Blessing”, Robert Robinson was written in 1758, when he was just 22 years old.
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