Even those who want to walk with God find they sometimes wander off the path. As Isaiah wrote, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). We all need the Good Shepherd to lead us “in the paths of righteousness” and “restore” our soul when we get off the path (Psalm 23:3).
Why is it that we are so “prone to wander” (to borrow a line from Robert Robinson’s hymn, Come Thou Fount)?
The answer is that, left to ourselves, we just can’t seem to walk straight. We get turned around. More specifically, we turn inward and circle around ourselves. Even though we are new people in Christ Jesus, we still have leftovers from our life before Jesus. The Bible calls this part of us the “flesh” or “sinful nature” (Romans 7:14-25). The “flesh” pulls us towards sin and away from God. Unless we “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) and “keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25), we won’t be able to walk God’s way.
A while back, I came across a fascinating, short video put out by National Public Radio that tells how scientists have long been baffled by our human ability to walk a straight line. I think you’ll find it both captivating and curious. I believe it makes a spiritual point about our natural inability to walk God’s ways on our own! And why we need the truth of God’s Word to point us true north!
Rick and Linda Reed 