Restless Wanderer - Martin Wiles

From now on you will be a homeless fugitive on the earth, constantly wandering from place to place. Genesis 4:12 NLT

I’ve returned several times, but it was never the same. 

Home may be the place they have to take you when you return, but no one said it would be the same when you got there. I left home immediately after high school graduation. I couldn’t wait to put my feet under my own table and make my own rules. 

Though I didn’t care for my home of origin while there, I look back with fond memories now.  Several times since then, I’ve had to return. Once simply because I was lonesome. A relationship had ended. Another time because I was following God’s direction which would take me to college. I had a family and needed to square away some bills before we left. And a further time because I had finished college. We had nowhere to go until a church called me as pastor. 

Each time I returned home, it was different than when I originally lived there. I was restless…ready to get out again. I wasn’t a child anymore. I didn’t need parents to tend to my needs—although they continued to try. Like initially, I wanted my own place with my own rules. 

God informed the first sibling that he’d be a restless wanderer. In a moment of rage and jealousy, he had killed his brother. As a consequence for his action, he would have to wander…to be a fugitive on the earth. 

Just as going home always disappointed me, so living on earth will also. As God’s child, it’s not my home…at least not in its present form. Sin infected Cain’s life and it has the world as well. Sin has destroyed the original pristine beauty and harmony. Weeds grow, natural disasters brew, and animals and people clash. Rust eats, plastics crack, and thieves steal. 

The only peace I can find during this restless journey is in my relationship with Christ. Here, I can see beyond what’s wrong and focus on what’s right. I’m forgiven. A better place awaits…both in heaven and on a freshly re-created earth where life will function as God originally designed. 

When you’re prone to wander, remember where your true home is. 

Prayer: Father, we thank You that no matter how far or long we roam You still welcome us home. 

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