GHS 157 : Wandering Child, O Come Home Lyrics
GHS 157, “Wandering Child, O Come Home,” is a tender plea hymn modelled on the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. It speaks directly to the one who has drifted from their Father’s care and is now heavy-hearted and roaming, adrift on life’s raging sea with no safe harbour in sight. The hymn does not condemn or lecture; it calls with a sweet, gentle voice, the same voice the father in the parable used when he ran to meet his returning child from a long way off.
Every stanza returns to the same invitation: the Father is entreating, the harbour is waiting, and there is no need to stay wandering any longer. This hymn appears as number 157 in the Gospel Hymns and Songs (GHS) collection, used in Deeper Life Bible Church and related assemblies across West Africa, and it is especially powerful when sung during evangelistic outreaches reaching those who were once in the faith.
Hymn Lyrics – GHS 157: Wandering Child, O Come Home
- Have you wandered away from your Father’s care, Heavy-hearted and sad do you roam? There’s a sweet gentle voice calling now to you — Wand’ring child, wand’ring child, O, come home.
Child, come home, child, come home, Wand’ring child, why longer roam? ‘Tis thy Father entreats, Wand’ring child, O, come home.
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Is your frail bark adrift on life’s raging sea, Are you tossed on its billows and foam? There’s a safe harbour home, waiting now for you — Wand’ring child, wand’ring child, O, come home.
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He is pleading today, heed His gentle voice, As He bids you no longer to roam, To that dear Father’s house haste without delay — Wand’ring child, wand’ring child, O, come home.
