The Wanderer

“The man who wanders off from the way of understanding” (Proverbs 21:16)

I’m really going to date myself here, but I remember back in 1961 when a popular singer named Dion came out with a song called “The Wanderer”.  It became a big hit.  You know, one of those songs that just kept playing over and over again in your mind.  In fact, it’s dancing through mine right now.  The main chorus that was set to music was – “I’m the wanderer.  Yeah, the wanderer.  I roam around, around, around.”  Any of you reading this admit you’re as old as me and remember that song?

Now that song actually had a theological lesson to it.  The words of it tell us that one who wanders keeps going around in circles never settling themselves in place.  Do you know people like that?  Are you one of them?  I agree that some people just can’t seem to be content where they are, so they keep moving about from one place to another, one job to another, one relationship to another.  Perhaps it’s their personality.

Wandering really isn’t a big problem – that is until the wandering takes on a spiritual tone to it.  In the Old Testament book of Proverbs, chapter 21 and verse 16, Solomon in his wisdom wrote, “A person who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.”  The Hebrew word for “understanding” when translated into the Greek means “church.”

Therefore, you could say that the one who wanders away from seeking to understand God and his ways, will end up in a church that knows nothing about God.  This is very relevant in our world today as we witness more and more people, churches, and denominations wandering away from the Word of God in order to be accepted in the world and follow the dictates of the times.  The result has been churches, clergy, and congregations embracing things the Bible clearly calls abomination.  They have become gatherings of the dead – the spiritually dead.  It is what we call apostasy.  Compromising is easy when you refuse to believe the truth.

I encourage you to stay in God’s word.  Stay in fellowship of prayer with the Lord.  Stay in a church that follows scripture, even if they don’t always do things the way you want them done.  Stay away from the “assembly of the dead.”  And don’t roam “around, around, around” in your spiritual life. 

                                                     Darlene