Bind My Wandering Heart, Lord

I think one of the things I love so much about music is how the Lord uses it to speak to my heart. I have blogged countless times of varying songs that the Lord will bring to mind, wake me up with, or use to get my attention on something. Sometimes it's a song in church; other times it's a song on the radio. When the Lord happens to use the words of a song to convict me of something in my life, I am always so thankful for this loving and gracious method He uses to remind me of my wandering heart and to gently draw me back to His. Sometimes He needs to enact more stern discipline- loving discipline, but discipline nonetheless- so I prefer the song method.

This is one of my favorite hymns, and it has been running through my head the last couple of days...

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet, 

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;

Hither by Thy help I'm come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

Life is busy right now, and I confess that I have allowed my heart to wander. Part of my journey back to His heart is confessing that I have not been faithful to the One I love. I have fallen out of my usual disciplines and have not been faithful in my time with the Lord. Work and wedding planning distract my thoughts throughout the day, and the snooze button has all too often taken precedence over my early morning time with the Lord. With my calendar rapidly filling, He seems to become just another line item on the long list of to do's. Ugh. Writing that on paper makes my heart hurt. My recent lack of discipline and focus have led me to slip into a "coasting" mode, which is a dangerous place to be. How quickly my sinful heart wanders and begins to make compromises and excuses. In His mercy, the Lord woke me up at 2am yesterday morning to speak to my heart about some of those compromises. It was a sobering time of confession before my Holy Father, and I praise Him for forgiveness and grace.

I have had my "wake up call" (haha- no pun intended) and would ask you to join me as I pray for the Lord to bind my wandering heart to His. We sometimes cringe at the notion of discipline, because we're just lazy or because we fear legalism. But my sinful heart needs discipline if I have any chance of remaining faithful. I have seen how quickly my sinful heart takes over when it is distracted and wandering from the Lord. I praise God for the conviction of the Spirit and for His constant work to sanctify my wandering heart...