God's Never Wandering Mind

As I was being taught this lesson, the nursery rhyme ‘Goosey, goosey gander’, was brought to mind. Listen to the lines.

Goosey, goosey gander,

Whither shall I wander,

Upstairs and downstairs,

And in my lady’s chamber,

There I met an old man,

Who would not say his prayers,

I took him by the left leg,

And threw him down the stairs.

All that I am shown is how this gander wanders and in its wandering, it mindlessly goes up and down the stairs of its owner. The up and down activity and movement will satisfy that gander, but it leads to no good and useful end.

Here is the Word we are given on Wandering. It is found in Luke 16: 27 - 31. He answered, Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment. Abraham replied, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them. No, father Abraham, he said, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. He said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets they will not be convicted even if someone rises from the dead.

Jesus is teaching of life after death for two people who have lived very different lives, while on earth. But it is at the conclusion of their lives to which we are being drawn. The person who is being tormented, wants father Abraham to send the person who is being comforted, back to his people on earth, to warn his brothers. He wants them to be warned about the Wandering Life, so that they will repent and follow the Lord their God. He does not want his siblings to end up in a place of torment as he has done.

Abraham listens to him, then tells him that his brothers have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them. But the rich man, now a poor man, is saying No! It will not work. You see, he too had the Word of God given to him. He too had the servants of God speak to him, but he never listened to them. Says he, If someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. Luke 16: 30.

Pause for a moment and see how this person, in his place of torment, wants to make the Word of God powerless. Note the folly of this wandering mind that knows no change. It is the mind that still does not get it. It is the mind that, as with the image of the gander, lives an up and down life in the place where it is owned. It is not the mind that was in Christ Jesus. It is the wavering, unstable, un-denied mind. Look at the rhyme again. It says and shows that goosey, goosey gander is literally thinking to itself, Where shall I wander? Do you not know that it is the mind of thinking that brings the mode of living? As your thinking, so your living.

The rich man had had God’s Word being fed to him by Moses, and the prophets, true servants sent and given by God, but he refused to listen and obey them. He knows that his family are walking the same path as he and in his same futile thinking, he wants to save his brothers. But father Abraham is not buying into it.

Only the mind of Christ can expose this. I find this extremely scary indeed. Listen!

The wandering, wavering mind denies the Power of God’s Word. Can you hear what the man in hell is saying about himself and all his brothers to come? He knows that the Word of God is available. He knows that servants of the Lord are there. He is not even denying that God sent them. What he is telling Abraham is that The Word will only be effective if one, returns from the dead and goes to them. What he is doing is what many still do with the Lord’s Word that is in their hearing. God’s Word becomes adulterated in their hearing and they see the messenger as more powerful than the message. If the sent servants of God are there with God’s Word, why want some ‘medium’ to be sent?

No! God’s servant of faith will never fall for such blasphemy of God’s Word.

The wandering, wavering mind denies the Power of God’s Way. This kind of deceived mind is denying the very way the Lord chooses to come to His people. God chose to bring His Living Word through His chosen, human servants. That’s God’s way. Will the Lord call a servant and send him or her out to take His Word and let it be nonsense? Will God not be sure in what He is doing? Will He send His Word in what He does not approve? For Abraham, God’s servant to listen to such utter nonsense, will be for him to affirm the wandering, wavering mind, agreeing that the Lord has not sent a powerful enough person.

No! God’s servant of faith will never fall for such obscenity of God’s Word.

The wandering, wavering mind denies the Power of God’s Will. Here is the scariest part of all. This deceived will not and cannot understand that the Word of God never fails to do what it sets out to do. It is damnation to all who have wandering, wavering minds and salvation to all who give their minds over to the One True Wise.

No! God’s servant of faith, will never fall for such stupidity of God’s Word.

Beware of the wandering and wavering mind!

It is the mind that leads you to a life apart from Jesus.

It is the mind that keeps you in mindless, aimless, fruitless activities, which only satisfy the deceived self.

It is the mind that refuses to hear the Word of God and obey its requirements.