1st Sunday of Advent

I Wonder as I Wander Is. 63:16-17

Why?

Why don’t men ask for directions?

Because there is something about the wandering and figuring it out that is important. 

Men learn by doing, not by being told how to do it. 

And so while it may look like they are driving around in circles;

There is a method to their madness and even their stubbornness. 

They are learning, exploring, figuring it out on their own which helps make them who they are. 

Isaiah asks God, “Why do you let us wander?”

Why doesn’t God just rend the Heavens and come down and show us the way?

Instead God lets us wander. 

God let the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 yrs. 

We wander as a Pilgrim Church 

We wander as individuals in life. 

And as we wander we may wonder,

Are we getting anywhere?

Just look back at your life and look at all of the twists and turns that you have taken. 

The wrong roads and the dead ends. 

And yet somehow we manage to find our way. 

If God came down and told us where to go,

We probably wouldn’t listen anyway. 

He gave us the Scriptures on how to live and where to walk

And have we listened as a church, as a nation, as individuals?

And yet in spite of our wandering,

In spite of our wrong turns;

The dead ends we have taken

And even the sins we have committed. 

We manage to find our way. 

Because God is guiding us every step of the way  

When we look forward we may not know where we are going or how we are going to get there,

But when we look back we can see God’s hand was guiding us,

Through the dark valleys that we walked and the deserts we crossed. 

And so God lets us wander. 

Because it is through the wandering that we learn;

That we find our way eventually. 

And those who wander by Faith,

Know that God will never lets us wander too far,

But will always bring us back to the right path.