A Wand'ring Heart? Remember.

"O, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee
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"

I heard a rumor that the author who penned these words from "Come Thou Fount" eventually did wander away from God, losing all faith. Though I don't know how true that is, it does make me think.

From a man who acknowledges an acceptance of God's grace in his life come words painfully admitting his proclivity to leave his Savior. These words are a desperate prayer for God to literally "bind" the man's heart to God, because the man in his nature is constantly pulled away.

It is difficult to admit, but at times, I must pray this same prayer: "Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee." I am prone to wander. I don't know if it makes it any easier to know that I'm not the only one.

I was reminded yesterday that the Israelites were also prone to wander. Every time came God's same response: Remember. He constantly calls those who love him into the memory of who He is, what He has done, and who the Israelites are in relation to Him. He is their creator who has brought them into a chosen covenant. He has delivered them from slavery and has brought them into a land he has prepared for them. And they are His people whom he loves.

In some small sense, I identify with the Israelites. God is my creator who has known me and formed me for works planned in advance for me to do. He has brought me out of slavery to sin so that I have freedom to choose the way of righteousness. And, no matter where I wander, I am His.

In this Epiphany season as we celebrate Christ as the Light who has come into the darkness, may we remember. Let us pray that our wandering hearts be bound to His, and may we remember His desire for the hearts of all the world to be sealed for His courts above.