Life is a strange place to be for me. It seems like God constantly has my family and I in travel mode. “Look far young man, look to the rising sun and over the hills, that is where I have called you my son,” I hear God saying. There is no settling down in God’s plan as far as my life is concerned. I once told a friend that sometimes I wish I could go and buy a farm house in the country and live happily ever after, but that is not what God’s plan is at this season of my life. That poem comes to mind by Robert Frost, The Road Less Traveled. The last stanza of that poem says, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Wow, isn’t that the truth! When I was a missionary in Africa I for a time felt so at home and so settled. The feeling of being settled made me nervous and I knew there was something coming. I remember the day when I knew God was beckoning me once again to get ready for something. At the time I had no idea what it was, but I knew something was coming. I was driving down a sandy road toward one of our churches out in the bush. It was a very lonely place where nobody lived. I stopped my truck and I sat there experiencing God’s presence that had just descended upon me from nowhere. I got out of the truck and got on my knees right there on the road and began praying. I told the Lord in so many words that wherever He called me I would go. It was tough to do that because I was so settled and happy in my house in Kaoma. That accursed word, settled, holds a meaning that cannot be part of the vocabulary of the servant of God.
I don’t think it is in God’s plan for his children to be settled. I have been looking through my Bible and I have not found one place where God called His servants to be settled. Lord knows, the Israelites were never settled. The disciples were not settled, probably because they were always on the run from the law of the time or Loaw as my daddy would say it. The story of the Israelites wilderness wanderings is interestingly connected to God’s idea of being always mobile when called upon. These chosen people of God, these children of the Most High God. Have you ever wandered through the woods? I remember as a child meandering through the forests that surrounded the farm where I grew up. “The woods”as we called them. My brothers and I loved the woods. Why? Because they were mysterious. They were full of new discoveries for us boys. Our imaginations would come alive in the woods. We would find where bears had lumbered down a path. Sometimes we would find old tools and arrowheads from the Native American Indians of old. I remember once we found a dead deer in the woods and it was so amazing to me. I believe it was just an old deer that had tread its last mile and decided to give up in our woods. We were amazed and afraid. It made us ask the question about why such beautiful creatures have to die. It tested our innocence as we looked into the profound mystery of life and death.
I think that God wants us to be wanderers, in a sense. I believe He wants us to make new discoveries as we wander through the wilderness of life. Not aimlessly, but with anticipation of something new and wonderful…new discoveries about Him and who He is and the plan He has for us. The wilderness of this life has secrets yet to be revealed to us. Secrets God wants us to discover, secrets that will ever remain hidden as long as we are happy with being settled. I once had a conversation with someone concerning their search to see God work through miracles and mighty acts. I believe this Christian had the right desire. Everyone should want to see the power of God. I believe one must GO to see such things. They must be willing to wander where God takes them, wherever that may be.
I was talking with a group of people and the question was asked “What is one of the greatest issues facing the church today? “. The answer according to one individual was Calvinism. No, I don’t think the greatest issue facing the church is Calvinism. I think it is courage. Being settled takes no courage. Being settled takes no testing. Being settled is the easy way. But I dare to argue that being settled is not God’s way. Unfortunately, to wander takes courage. The courage to step out in faith and walk into the darkness, where there is no lantern to show the way. Wandering means to trust God to lead you through the mysterious wilderness. Even there one will doubt his way and become afraid, but it will be his courage to trust God that will keep him moving. The Israelites faced this. They had security in Egypt, but after they left and the Egyptians started pursuing them they became afraid. “As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; So the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord…” They were terrified. Yet, in the end they saw God do something amazing, He parted the Red Sea and they were brought to safety. They would never have seen God do such amazing things if they stayed settled in Egypt.
Christian, are you settled? Do not worry, many are settled. I know servants of God who are settled. Not willing to move because they are afraid to take that step of faith, afraid of wandering through the wilderness because it seems too dark and unfamiliar. That doesn’t have to be you. Talk with the Lord and tell Him you are willing to go anywhere if He tells you to go, even if you don’t know what lies at the end. Tell Him and trust Him and you will experience God in all His faithfullness.