| The Israelites had wandered about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. |
| —Joshua 5:6a |
J. R. R. Tolkien—or more formally, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien—the masterful writer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy was the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and a Fellow of Pembroke College at the University of Oxford. He then became the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College-Oxford. A devout Roman Catholic, Tolkien’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ had a profound influence on all of his personal and academic endeavors. Along with Clive Staples Lewis, Tolkien was an esteemed member of the literary group known as The Inklings and had a profound influence on Lewis that led to Lewis’ conversion to Christianity.
Thousands of pages have been written about Tolkien and his trilogy. His work has been the subject of countless Ph.D. theses. Many have included a dissertation on one of Tolkien’s more famous quotations:
“Not all who wander are lost.”
In fact, a once-dear friend, who sadly has turned away from Conservative orthodox Christianity, has used this phrase in countless blog posts he has written to justify his abandonment of Evangelical Christianity and his adoption of a Left-wing Liberal—even Communistic— apostastic form of pseudo-Christian expression. But, I fear my once-dear friend has completely missed the point that Tolkien was making.
The entire quotation contains the context. And, it is important when we quote any source to make certain we retain enough of the surrounding text to include the context. The complete quotation, taken from The Fellowship of the Ring reads as follows:
All that is gold does not glitter;
Not all who wander are lost.
The old that is strong does not wither.
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
The assertion many make regarding the shorter version of the quotation is that we cannot, and dare not, adequately judge another person’s status regarding his or her faith by merely observing outward appearances. This false premise falls flat when we view the entire quotation. Tolkien uses this poetic utterance to describe the ebb and flow of life around the group of loyal fellows, bonded together in their quest to find the ring and, ultimately, destroy the evil power that has become enshrined within the ring.
If we who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and place our faith in His resurrection power, find outselves wandering away from the truth we have been taught and the love of God that we have experienced, we actually place ourselves in peril. God always deals directly with purposeless wanderers. We see this clearly exhibited in the way God treated the errant Israelites, whom God had freed from the bonds of Egypt. Notice these words found in Joshua 5:6:
The Israelites had wandered about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Let those of us who follow Jesus keep in mind that the devil will always try to cast us out into the desert and make us wander aimlessly and without clear purpose. Satan will try to trick us into wandering from the security we have in Jesus. When tempted to wander, let’s resist that temptation. Instead, let’s cling to Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to draw us fully and irresistibly into God’s grace.
If God does indeed set us to wandering—calling us to a cause not yet fully apparent—He will always do so with a clear sense that He is leading and guiding us to the goal He wants us to reach. Thus, our wandering will have a purpose and a conviction. We will not wander merely for the sake of wandering. We will not be led to wander by our own restlessness. At least we won’t allow ourselves to leave the place where God is using us simply because we have become bored or discontent.
Our wandering in the economy of God will always have a purpose. And, it will be a purpose that God Himself defines. We will not wander without purpose, even when we don’t yet see the destination that God has in mind for us.
