A Pause to Ponder God's Word
"Being Pursued"

Have you ever noticed that one of the best places to hide something is out in the open? One reason this works is that people tend to see what they expect to see rather than what is really there. This is true in conversation as well. For instance, when someone asks you how you are doing and replies "that's nice" to whatever you tell them, even if it wasn't very nice. They expected you to say "fine." A similar phenomenon occurs when we read or hear familiar passages of Scripture. There are so familiar that we read them very casually and in doing so miss wonderful trues. We only get what we expect to get from that passage.

One such passage is Psalm 23. This popular Psalm has given countless numbers comfort and encouragement. It consistently speaks solace and care to the troubled soul. But could it be saying more than we expect? Recently I found that one verse in this Psalm is much stronger than I imagined. Verse 6 reads, "surely goodness and love [the KJV which reads "goodness and mercy"] will follow me all the days of my life." The Hebrew word for "follow" in this verse is the same word used for a pursuing army. Therefore, the verse could be translated "surely goodness and love pursue me." Or possibly, "surely goodness and love track me down."

Don't reject these translations too quickly. Though we may be more comfortable with the softness of "follow me," it carries a much stronger connotation than mercy and love quietly following along behind us. It is more like Francis Thompson's "Hound of Heaven." It speaks of God's passionate pursuit of us. Didn't Jesus tell us that the good shepherd would leave the ninety nine sheep to search out the one lost sheep? The companion parable to this one is about a women that turns her entire house upside down in search of one lost coin, even though she had nine others. (Luke 15) This is not a picture of passivity. It is a passionate, tenacious pursuit. When challenged for His association with Zacchaeus ("being a guest of a sinner") Jesus proclaimed, "the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost." (Luke 19:5,10) Is not God taking the initiative to come to us while we were sinners one glorious hallmark of the gospel? In all other religions of the world, humanity must seek their god, an elusive, fickle god who may or may not accept the diligent seeker, and in the end is no god at all. The God of Scripture, the true God, seeks us out!

This verse takes on new potency when we recognize that the Lord, our Shepherd, loving pursues us desiring us to dwell with Him forever! Surely His goodness and love follow us to keep us from straying. Beloved, let us stay close to our Shepherd and open our lives to His goodness and love. They are more than sufficient to keep us and they are always taking us down!

Keep Close To Jesus
Pastor Gerry


A Pause To Ponder God's Word is written and distributed by Gerald Whetstone, Ordained Elder and teacher in the Church of the Nazarene. These devotionals may be transmitted, duplicated, used in part or in entirety without permission for nonprofit purposes only. Responses welcome. To Subscribe Click Here.
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