Prone to Wonder

“You do know that wonder and wander are two different words, right?”

I found myself asking my  husband that question after listening to him preach one night. He kept saying that the Israelites were wondering in the desert.

At this point, you’re either saying, “Amen, sister!” or you are completely lost. For those of you who are lost, here’s a quick lifelong grammar lesson.

To WONDER (pronounced ONE-dur)

This is a purely mental activity. It’s what happens when you space off and start to think about something really hard. For example, when I like someone’s outfit, I might wonder where they bought it. It’s very similar to the word “ponder.” Let that help you – they both have an “o” in them.

To WANDER (pronounced WAWN-dur)

This is a physical activity. It’s what happens when you have a free afternoon and are in the park. You have no final destination so you might see something interesting under one tree and walk that direction, then see something else and wander over in another direction.

So when my husband kept pronouncing “wander” as “wonder,” I felt my English-major self kick in and feel the need to intervene. So let’s get this all linked back together for today’s devotional. I was chatting with a friend this week who told me that some of her favorite lyrics are “prone to wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” Of course, I chuckled to myself, because the lyrics are actually that we are prone to “wander,” that is, we are prone to walk away from God and pursue other activities.

The more I reflected on this, the more I realized that I am frequently prone to “wonder” before I am prone to “wander.”

The Apostle Paul makes this comment in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ.

There is a lot we could unpack in these verses, but let’s just focus on our thoughts for now. It’s easy to understand that in our spiritual war, we cannot use guns and grenades; physical weapons are of no use. Paul says that the weapons we do wield are powerful through God to demolish strongholds. We are called to take every thought captive to Christ. I believe some of our spiritual weapons include the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. I also believe one of the biggest weapons, in fact, a weapon so dangerous that Satan frequently tries to sabotage it in order to gain control, is our mind.

When I am wondering, I am prone to sin. I wonder if my neighbor had enough money to purchase that brand new car or if the person in the aisle at Walmart with me intentionally wore that outfit. My wonderings, that is, those times when my mind drifts off, lead me to moments that reveal my greatest idols, jealousies, fears, and judgments.

And if I don’t take those thoughts captive, if I allow my mind to remain on these jealous thoughts, I move from the mental activity of wondering to the physical activity of wandering. I slip away and don’t realize that I’ve started to walk away from God’s truth.

Let’s cut off the devil’s attack plan. We need to meditate on and memorize Scripture as a counter attack. I’m prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to wander from the God I love. So take my heart, my mind, my hands captive and seal me for they courts above.

Let they 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 they courts above