Charles Wesley composed this hymn text in 1749. All six stanzas were included in John Wesley’s hymnal, A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists, 1780, under the section titled “For Backsliders Recovered.”¹ This hymn would be a good prayer to mediate and pray through; even if now you are not in a state of wandering away from God, we have all willingly sinned against our great Saviour. It reminds us God’s grace towards us even in our rebellion. Pray the last stanza to the Lord today!

Weary of wandering from my God,
And now made willing to return,
I hear, and bow me to the rod;
For thee, not without hope, I mourn;
I have an Advocate above,
A Friend before the throne of Love.

O Jesus, full of truth and grace,
More full of grace than I of sin,
Yet once again I seek thy face;
Open thine arms, and take me in,
And freely my backslidings heal,
And love the faithless sinner still.

Thou know’st the way to bring me back
My fallen spirit to restore;
O! for thy truth and mercy’s sake,
Forgive, and bid me sin no more;
The ruins of my soul repair,
And make my heart a house of prayer.

The stone to flesh again convert,
The veil of sin again remove;
Sprinkle thy blood upon my heart,
And melt it by thy dying love;
This rebel heart by love subdue,
And make it soft, and make it new.

Give to mine eyes refreshing tears,
And kindle my relentings now;
Fill my whole soul with filial fears,
To thy sweet yoke my spirit bow;
Bend by thy grace, O bend or break,
The iron sinew in my neck!

Ah! give me, Lord, the tender heart
That trembles at the approach of sin;
A godly fear of sin impart,
Implant, and root it deep within,
That I may dread thy gracious power,
And never dare to offend thee more.

¹umcdiscipleship.org/resources/weary-of-wandering-from-my-god