Wanderings

'God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells
in God, and God in him.' (1John 4:16)

This morning I opened to a hymn in an old
English hymn book given to me almost 50
years ago. It is in words, but not in notes.
It was translated from German into English
by John Wesley.

'Thou hidden love of God, whose
   height,
Whose depth unfathomed, no man
   knows,
I see from far Thy beauteous light,
   Inly I sigh for Thy repose;
My heart is pained, nor can it be
At rest, till it finds rest in Thee

Thy secret voice invites me still
The sweetness of Thy yoke to prove;
And fain I would; but though my will
   Seems fixed, yet wide my passions
     rove;
Yet hindrances strew all the way;
I aim at Thee, yet from Thee stray.

'Tis mercy all, that Thou has brought
   My mind to seek her peace in Thee;
Yet while I seek but find Thee not,
   No peace my wandering soul shall
     see.
O when shall all my wanderings end,
And all my steps to Thee-ward tend?

Is there a thing beneath the sun
   That strives with Thee my heart to
     share?
Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone,
   The Lord of every motion there;
Then shall my heart from earth be free,
When it hath found repose in Thee.

Each moment draw from earth away
   My heart, that lowly waits Thy call;
Speak to my inmost soul, and say,
   'I am thy Love, thy God, thy ALL!'
To feel Thy power, to hear Thy voice,
To taste Thy love, be all my choice.

Gerhard Terzsteegen 1697-1769

Reader, I read these old hymns and I ponder
this. When did we lose the depth of wonder
in our walk with Him? Surely wonder is tied
into longing, pursuing, yearning for 'Himself'
as our all in all.