“Travelin’ man, travelin’ man, got no home, got no plan; just an old worn out heart in my hand. Travelin’ man, travelin’ man, I’ll get there any way I can. I’m just an uninspired, tired-out travelin’ man.”
Those lonesome lyrics are from a little-known Stevie Wonder tune crooning about traveling. And there are others. In fact, we could probably all participate in a lengthy “sing-off,” and come up with scores of songs about wandering, or traveling, or moving on. You know you know them. Take a second right now and sing one out loud. It’ll surprise the folks around you! Even Johnny Cash penned such a lyric.
The Scriptures speak often of the same theme, the same journey, the same longing. There is something in us that longs for home, longs for rest. Yet we live together “in this world of woe” knowing that the home we seek still lies ahead of us, still beckons us on. In his letter to his churches in the days of increasing Roman persecution, Peter calls believers to live out their identity as travelers, as sojourners.
Now if we think about it, every journey has three parts. There has to be a leaving, a departure. Then, there’s that part in the middle, the “On the Road Again” part. (Go ahead, sing it!) And at last, the getting there.
This is the lyric of salvation. In His mercy, God calls us to leave. He said that very specifically to Abraham, remember? Then, He called His people out of Egypt. And Jesus called those Galilean fishermen to leave the lives they had known for generations, and things would never be the same. He calls us the same way. Jesus calls us to leave the old ways of trusting in ourselves, of surrounding ourselves with sinfulness, of doing it “My Way.”
The Lord also calls those who are His to travel well, by traveling with Him. In every case, the promise of God is the presence of God. Before God tells Abraham about the Promised Land, He tells him to begin the journey. The Israelites were called first into the desert to assemble in the presence of God. God led them there; He sojourned with them. So He does with us. We live our lives in the presence of a merciful heavenly Father who dwells among His people as we travel onward.
And we too, united with the faithful saints of old, look toward that destination at journey’s end. We seek to live faith-filled lives now, always remembering that we travel toward a place of enduring rest. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13:14)
And so we journey on. We do not wander aimlessly; we do not journey in vain. But in Christ, led by the same Holy God that was seen as a pillar of fire, we travel onward toward the place prepared.
That’s where we’re headed. Thanks be to God!