The old hymn “Come Thou Fount” is one of the main-stays in my head, and no matter where I am, this little line “…prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love…” is always in the back of my mind. Considering the perpetual state of my heart, I think the Lord uses this song to remind me that my heart is not invincible. My heart is inclined to wander. It’s human nature. I’m prone to stray, prone to loose my focus on the Author and Perfecter of my faith. I’m prone to focus more on my dreams and desires – directing far more emotion there – than inclining my heart toward the Lord. I constantly feel that tension—the pull and tug between the Holy Spirit and my wandering heart. Do you ever feel that way? Hopefully it’s not just me. But these things…the things that cause our wandering hearts…these things are not necessarily bad. No, not at all! Maybe it’s your desire for marriage or maybe it’s your desire for a better job. Maybe you have a God-given dream in your heart that the Lord has not seen to completion. Desires, dreams, hopes and cares—all good things. But here’s the deal…sometimes we start wanting the things instead of The GIVER of all good things. The Israelites dealt with the same things (I don’t think our human sin-nature has changed much over the centuries). Deuteronomy 8:2-3 says,
“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:2-3
We think our version of “bread” is fulfilled dreams, a husband, a wife, kids…the list could go on and on. But there is not ONE thing you will ever be able to list that will ever come close to filling your hunger—this deeply rooted longing for something more. Joni Erickson Tada once said, “God has good reasons for giving us such large appetites. He has placed within us desires and dreams in order to test us and humble us, to see what is in our heart, to see whether or not we would follow Him. He causes us to hunger so that we might learn to feed on the Bread of Heaven, to live on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Where is your heart today? Are you longing after unmet desires? Is your heart wandering in the desert? I’m praying the Lord will bring you to a place where you are willing to follow Him into both the desert and the feast, because He is worth it.
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