Wandering

 

Some wandered in the desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

—Psalm 107:4-7

One day, I had business in a familiar city not far from the surrounding farmlands of my hometown. I had traveled this way many times. Each time I came this way I noted a sign along the roadside that directed people to a local golf club. My curiosity and my sense of adventure, small though it is, led me to believe that I knew where following that sign would lead me. I expected that, in addition to driving past the advertised golf club, the road would also lead me in the direction toward home.

As I drove, I came to a fork in the road and the road signs, faded and askew, pointed in various conflicting directions. I followed the direction of the sign that pointed to the golf club, even though I felt it likely directed me the wrong way.

As I drove along, just as I had suspected, I realized the road I had chosen was taking me in the wrong direction. But, I had now driven so far that I didn’t want to turn around and go back.

The road grew narrower and became paved with dirt. I drove through woods on either side and up steep hills and down into valleys, feeling as much panic as I had ever known driving somewhere. This desolate road finally wound past one farm, and I came to a familiar sounding road.

So, I turned to follow this new road. When I came to a stop sign a few miles later, I was less than two miles from my childhood home. I also discovered that I was much nearer to my destination than I would have been had I followed the road I had originally expected to take.

Speaking metaphorically, sometimes our “internal GPS” leads us through the “fog of life”—so thick that we cannot see ahead—even to the point where we begin to believe that we have strayed way off the path. We feel alone and baffled as to what to do to get “home” again.

In our stupidity and our tendency to wander away from the proper path, many times the Scriptures reminds us that we resemble sheep. Sometimes our Good Shepherd allows us a time of vague and mystifying travel that leads us to think He has allowed us to get lost. In response, we do our best to listen for His voice, to lean on Him when we can’t see the way, and to keep going forward by faith.

Yes, we can get off on the wrong path because we haven’t stayed close to the Shepherd. But, in such a case, though we can feel lost, we know that if we return to God and stay close to Him, He will eventually direct us to where we had hoped to arrive all along.

God patiently waits for us to show our trust in Him. In the times of confusion, He looks for our faithfulness. And, He waits to bring us out of our time of questioning and into the destination where His guidance will lead us.

Oh, Lord, our Heavenly Shepherd, direct us along the dark path on which we find ourselves. Though we cannot see ahead, and the way looks foreboding, speak to us with Your assurance that You will guide us and stay with us until You bring us to the place where you want us to settle—a place we can call “home”!

Lead us, teach us, and make Your way known, as we look back over the path we’ve come by the leading of Your divine presence. We pray with thanksgiving in Jesus’ name. Amen.