Wayfaring Stranger: Part I

One of my favorite hymns is “I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger.” In case you are unfamiliar with it, you can read the lyrics and hear a MIDI of it at Cyberhymnal here (beware of the auto-playing music).

The tune is a traditional melody, that I’ve heard possibly came from either early Irish settlers or slave spirituals. I’ve come across many variations of the lyrics, but the ones I were raised on are the Richard W. Adams lyrics, which are the ones on Cyberhymnal:

I am a poor wayfaring stranger,
While traveling through this world of woe.

A key idea in Christianity (and other religions) is that this present material world is not the final thing- we are only travelers, and our destination is far better than this imperfect world. That leads us to another common idea: this world is flawed and fallen.

Living in the United States (or any other developed country) often makes it hard to grasp this concept that this is a broken and marred world. Our lives are so comfortable and secure, it’s hard to appreciate the thought that we go to  a place far better than here.

Yet, this place is a “world of woe.” The poor and suffering far outnumber the privileged few who have safe and easy lives. Drought, disease, disaster, poverty, and famine plague the world, and these poor people are the ones hit by it, not us. To these people, this different, better world that is our destination speaks volumes to them. They understand that this world is not perfect; they understand how much suffering is in the world. And the hope of someplace better when this world has past means more to them than it can possibly mean to us.

Yet there’s no sickness, toil nor danger
In that bright world to which I go.

The world to where we are traveling will not be fallen and full of suffering. It is a perfect world. Sin, which causes all the evil and suffering in the world, will not exist there- it has been washed by the blood of the Lamb. The world will be back in line with God’s plan and ideal, before pride and rebellion broke the world. It is in that holy land that we have our citizenship, not this suffering, sinful rock.

I’m going there to see my Father;
I’m going there no more to roam.

God himself dwells in that land, and when we get there we will see Him face to face. And when that happens, all our sufferings, all our trials, all our insurmountable problems that we had here on earth will vanish in an instant, and we will realize that our Father has been with us all along, strengthening and protecting us all the way. We will realize how much He loves us and how much He helped us. And we will dwell in His house, forever.

When we reach that land, there will be no more need for tireless, unhappy roaming far away from home. There will be no sad goodbyes, and no long, painful separations. We will be eternally home, with the ones we love and the One whom loves us.

I’m only going over Jordan,
I’m only going over home.

Where is this land to where we are going? It isn’t far. It is merely just across the Jordan, just pass that symbolic river that symbolizes death and finally going out of this world of suffering. For the righteous, death isn’t a bad thing, it’s merely finally passing into the next world, into the better country.

It’s only going home.