LISTEN ONLINERobert Robinson’s travelling companion began humming the tune of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. After a while, she asked what he thought of the hymn. “I am the poor unhappy man who wrote it many years ago,” he sighed, “and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”
Whilst this eighteenth-century story may be apocryphal, what seems clear is that Robinson experienced personally the wandering his hymn went on to describe: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” He’d been influenced by unbiblical friends for a time, leading to feelings of lostness and uncertainty while he drifted from God.
The psalmist described something similar: “I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant” (Psalm 119:176). He had known the immense value and joy of God’s Word (vv. 172, 174). Yet, somehow, he had wandered away.
In a world full of empty promises and distracting desires, we too can find ourselves prone to wander from biblical truth. When this happens, and like Robinson we discover our joy is gone, the psalmist shows us the way back: “May my cry come before you, Lord; . . . deliver me according to your promise” (vv. 169-170). Wherever we are, we can place our trust in the promises of God’s Word again, crying out to the One who seeks and saves the lost (Luke 19:10).