‘Prone to wander, Lord I feel it… Bind my wandering heart to thee.’

The verses of this song ring so true. I am prone to leave the God I love. This is not something I, or you, suffer from alone. As Paul wrote in Romans 7:15 he states “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” We know that our flesh and spirit are at war with each other to keep us from doing what we want to do. Galatians 5:17

But we are not lost and left there…wandering. In the verse prior (Galatians 5:16) it says to walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

George Müller said the first business of the day was to have his soul happy in God. —So how do we do this? He goes on to answer that by saying– the food for the inner-man is the word of God. (paraphrased) 

We must be nourishing our souls with the food of His word.  In order to stand firm in the promises of God we must know them. To be able to dwell with a happy heart in God we must know Him deeply and intimately and know His promises. 2Peter 1:3-4 says “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who calls us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His previous and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”[emphasis mine]

So we see that we must walk by the Spirit. The other verse in this song so sweetly says “bind my wandering heart to thee”

As a believer you are bound to Christ. It says in Galatians 2:20 ” I have been crucified with Christ so it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…John 15:4 “abide in me and I in you…”v5“…whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.” How sweet to see that we are in Him and it is Him who dwells in us.

In Colossians we see time and time again the words in Him. Colossians 2:6 “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith…” Brothers and sisters we have received Christ so we need to walk in Him. We must be rooted in the Word, nourishing our souls so that we stand firm in Him and when we are prone to wander because of our flesh, we cling to the faith established in us and feast on His word through that time instead of leaving the One we love.

 

Come Thou Fount- Robert Robinson 1757

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here there by Thy great help I’ve come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

Oh, that day when freed from sinning
I shall see Thy lovely face
Clothed then in the blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy wondrous grace
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry
Take my ransomed soul away
Send Thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let that goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
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

Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above