Psalm 16:4, A Prayer of the Wandering Heart

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names upon my lips. Ps. 16:4

Father, you are the source of all fulfillment and joy. How absurd for us to look to anyone other than you to meet our needs and grant our deepest desires. And yet we do—daily.

I love the insight from the hymn “Come Thou Found of Every Blessing” about the frailty of our hearts:

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it…prone to leave the God I love.

But there are those who aren’t grieved by their propensity to wander. There are those who don’t just stray toward an alternative god, but who run openly, blatantly, purposefully, in a direction other than you.

These are those by whom the psalmist vows never to be influenced. We, like King David, ask for the grace to distance ourselves from activities and demonstrations of disobedience.

We ask also for grace and mercy on behalf of those who have rejected you, who have chosen a counterfeit joy and fulfillment and life source.

We ask, in the words of an honest and beautiful hymn: Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it…seal it for thy courts above.

Let us not be influenced, changed, molded by or yielded to anything unholy or unlike you. Let us stay open to the adjustments of the Holy Spirit, who keeps us walking close to Jesus, in spite of our tendency to wander.

Thank you for the promise you gave us in Jude 24-25. We take comfort in it:

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Amen.”