living loved

The Foolish Wanderer

“Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death.” – Psalm 107: 17-18

Oh, the humor of God. This is the third of a four part series for this blog from Psalm 107. And while I had plans to write this series in 4-6 weeks, God had other plans when I developed Bells Palsy 3 weeks ago.

It all started on an early Sunday morning . . . just kidding. I’ll spare you all the details but basically: I woke up on a Sunday to run. Thought my face looked odder than usual. Decided I slept on my neck wrong. Drove to meet my cousin to run anyway (because I believe you can run off anything). My cousin took one look at me and said, you’re going to the hospital. I tried to convince her to run (she said no – she’s much smarter than me). And two hours later, much to my delight, I was not having a stroke, I was diagnosed with Bells Palsy, which was most likely due to Lymes, and sent on my merry way with a half paralyzed face, and finally (after years of wanting to be a real pirate) an eye patch (but not a cool one).

And what does this have to do with the foolish wanderer or weary traveler from 107? Nothing – I just wanted to show you my eye patch. Just kidding – actually, everything.

A pirate is much more than a dude or dudette with a cool eye patch – a pirate (think Jack Sparrow) acts a fool ( or Ludacris). They make bad decisions on purpose. They thieve on purpose. They fight on purpose. They wear eye patches on purpose. They do insanely dumb things ON PURPOSE. Their intentions are to do anything, anywhere with complete disregard on how they may or may not affect others. They draw near the gate of death (just like our foolish wanderer in this Psalm) and become/ act completely foolishly leading to rebellious ways. Their sin is like a ripple and affects everyone around them.

That is what the lousy tick did to me. The little infectious carrier bit me without any thought to how it would affect me (I have several names for the little infectious disease carrier, but I’ll keep it PG). GROSS! And isn’t that what happens with our own foolish ways? This wanderer is aware of their sin, and yet, they can’t seem to stop. The flesh is weak. GROSS!

Silliness aside, my heart often breaks for this wanderer because the addict falls into this category. And addiction is addiction:  drugs, alcohol, shopping, gossip, gambling, pornography, and the list goes on: anything the flesh can’t help but want and succumb to is addiction. Addiction ravaged my family, took a life, and still rears its ugly head – but then we have Jesus. God sends out his word in verse 20 and heals this wanderer. I believe the prayers of my grandmother, our pastors when we were younger, and my own prayers from the time I was a young girl without a clear picture of who Jesus was, healed the generational addiction that could have been within me. God’s word saves. And for that, just like in the other verses, I am forever grateful for verses 19-21: “Then they cried to the Lord in trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love . . .”

I will forever (just like in verse 1) praise his works with songs of joy for the testimony he set out before me . . . and the testimony he still writes before me.

Foolish wanderer, even though your eye patch is cool, aren’t you weary? Cry out, let Him heal you, and forever praise.

XOXO, Loni (ARGH, matey)