“With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.” (Ps. 119:10)
If you have the privilege of living in a rural community, like I do, you get to see things you will never see in a big city. For instance, one morning while I was in my office at the church, I happened to look out my window and just a few feet away there stood a cow staring back at me as if to say, “What are you looking at?” I couldn’t help but wonder how in the world a cow ended up outside my office window. It turns out, of course, the cow had wandered outside of its pasture. I guess you could say it left the pasture to come see the pastor!
When asked how a cow gets itself lost, one farmer said, “Well, the cow starts nibbling on a patch of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next patch of green grass and starts nibbling on that one. Eventually, it ends up nibbling on grass that is next to a hole in the fence. It then sees another patch of grass on the other side of the fence that looks appealing, so it leaves the fenced area and begins nibbling on that grass. The next thing you know, the cow has nibbled itself into being lost.”
I got to thinking…that is how it is with backsliders, too. Most people who are away from God did not set out to backslide. They just followed one desire after another, from one patch of green grass to another, until they nibbled themselves through God’s fence and strayed off the straight and narrow path.
Even the psalmist was concerned about his own walk with God. That is why he said, “O let me not wander from thy commandments.” He didn’t want to foolishly follow desires that might lead him away from God’s pasture.
So, how can we guard ourselves against wandering away from God? The psalmist tells us in the first part of the verse. He said, “With my whole heart have I sought thee…” That is the answer! When we are following God with our whole heart, there is nothing left to follow that might lead us astray.
If you will look back at the times when you strayed away from God, you will find that it was because you had stopped seeking God with your “whole heart.” Slowly, but surely, you began wandering away from God one patch of green grass at a time; one fleshly desire at a time.
So, keep your eyes on Jesus, today. Watch where you are walking because just one more nibble and you might find yourself in the wrong pasture!