Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You Prone to Wander? | The Writings | Psalm 129

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Have you ever felt your heart drifting, knowing in your mind that God is good and true, but feeling disconnected or uncertain in your heart? It's a struggle many of us face, and it's one that's been beautifully captured in an old hymn. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. These lyrics from Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing were written in 1758 by a young man named Robert Robinson.

Starting point is 00:00:42 His life's story feels surprisingly familiar, even 250 years later, because at its core it's about wrestling with doubt, it's about experiencing life's hardships, it's about finding God's unshakable grace. Today we'll reflect on Psalm 129 and its powerful reminder, the blessing of the Lord is on us.

Starting point is 00:01:01 This is a truth we need to hold on to in times of doubt, just as Robinson did. It's a reminder that God's love meets us right where we are, whether in joy, sorrow, or uncertainty. Robert Robinson didn't have an easy life. He was born into a turbulent family. He saw the strain of his parents troubled marriage, and he lost his father at a young age. His mother worked tirelessly as a seamstress to support the family, but when he was 13, Robert was apprenticed to his uncle as a barber. It was an unwelcome trade for him, and it was an unpaid arrangement that lasted seven years. As a teenager, Robert joined a group of boys to mock a local revival meeting,

Starting point is 00:01:43 but instead of walking away with laughter, he left deeply moved. The sermon he heard pierced his heart, and it changed the course of his life. He left barbering, he dedicated himself to ministry, and at just 22 years old, wrote, Come thou found of every blessing. I wonder if you've sung that hymn before. opens with these timeless words. Come thou found of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy, never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Now, Robert's spiritual awakening didn't mean his life was smooth sailing. He faced profound grief, including the death

Starting point is 00:02:21 of his 17-year-old daughter. It said that the weight of life's trials actually affected his mental clarity in later years. Yet through it all, his faith endured, and his hymn reflects that ongoing struggle. What makes this hymn so powerful is its honesty. In the final stanza Robinson confesses, 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. We can all relate to this restlessness, this tendency to drift, sometimes this complacency. But Robinson's words remind us that it's not our strength but God's faithfulness that seals our hearts for eternity. Robinson's hymn draws inspiration from 1st Senior 712, where Samuel raises a stone and calls it an Ebenezer, meaning stone of help,

Starting point is 00:03:12 to commemorate God's deliverance of Israel from their enemies. The hymn echoes this truth. Here I raise my Ebenezer, here by thy great help I've come. Psalm 129 mirrors this sentiment. It begins with the reflection. greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me. Let's just pause and think about that. The Israelites had just defeated the very powerful Philistine army, something that would have been very difficult to do in their own strength. What about you?

Starting point is 00:03:46 Where would you be if the things that chased you or afflicted you had prevailed? What physical, emotional, or spiritual battles would have overtaken you? The psalmas continues. The plowers plowed upon my back. They made long their furrows. The Lord is righteous. He has cut the cords of the wicked. This is a picture of deep oppression.

Starting point is 00:04:10 These are the scars of people beaten down by their enemies. Yet in verse four, we see God's response. He cuts the cords of the wicked. He steps in with righteousness and justice to deliver his people. As Christians, we can take many lessons from this Psalms. We're going to talk about three. First, God's hatred of oppression calls us to work for justice in the world, standing against anything that harms his creation.

Starting point is 00:04:35 Two, God's hatred of sin calls us to examine our own hearts and turn away from anything that keeps us from experiencing his love. And three, God's ultimate victory over sin is revealed in Christ, who gave his back to be scarred, to be wounded, to be striped for our healing and righteousness. When we encounter opposition, we're called to follow Jesus' example. We're called to conquer evil with forgiveness and love and faith. Psalm 129 ends with a profound refrain. The blessing of the Lord be upon you.

Starting point is 00:05:12 God has defeated the things that oppress his people. He has healed us with his stripes. He has cut the cords of sin that weighed us down. To know the blessing of the Lord is to let these truths transform how we face life's challenges, temptations, doubts. complacencies. Do you have an Ebenezer, an experience, or a moment when you remembered that God was with you, when you turned back to him with something of a renewed awe, a renewed desire to worship, to pray, to just be in his presence? If you have, it's because God did this for you. It's truly amazing. Now one of the hardest parts of life is not knowing how our stories will unfold,

Starting point is 00:05:53 and we can let ourselves get carried away with the little stories that make up our day. Those smaller stories always place us as the center character in our lives. And when we're the center character in our lives, our minds are oppressed with self-righteousness and self-doubt. Our spirits are oppressed with temptations and sin that want to keep us in the muck. But the psalmist in 129 is blessed instead of oppressed. not because his life is better, but because the one true God is Lord of his life. And when the one true God is Lord of our lives, nothing that happens to us can separate us from

Starting point is 00:06:33 God's mercy and God's love. Romans 8 35 to 38 reminds us of this unshakable truth. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No. In all these things, we are more than calm. conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth,

Starting point is 00:07:04 nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. You know what I love about that verse? Those verses actually, I myself can't separate myself from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Thank goodness. What are the things oppressing you? What are the things oppressing your community? How can you use your unique gifts and resources to make a difference there? What about the things oppressing your heart? Will you ask God to give you a renewed perspective,

Starting point is 00:07:41 a deeper awareness of his love, a willingness to turn away from sin? Lord, thank you for breaking the cords of sin and death that would have destroyed us. You are a covenant-keeping God who never abandons your promises. Please make your presence known to us today, bind our wandering hearts to you, and shape us into people who know and love you more deeply. Amen.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You Prone to Wander? | The Writings | Psalm 129

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