If you are out there thinking you have done the unforgivable sin and that God has stopped pursuing you, please be assured that is not the case.
Have you ever been pursued by someone? Maybe someone whose attention you did not want or maybe someone who made you feel like the most special person in the world?
If you search for the definition of “pursue,” you will see that it has negative and positive connotations:
“follow (someone or something) in order to catch or attack them.”
“seek to form a romantic relationship with (someone) in a persistent way.”
The biblical definition of God’s pursuit is beautifully explained in Psalm 139:1-12:
"O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You them me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you."
The Lord desires to be in a relationship with His children—those He sent His Son Jesus to die for. He loves us with an everlasting love. But sometimes I think that we forget that His pursuit of us is also everlasting. From birth to death God continually pursues those whom the Father has given Him. His pursuit doesn’t end at our conversion or because we still sin or because we feel abandoned due to our trials, but it continues throughout our lives, through walking with the Lord and falling away, in sickness and in health.
Let’s look at four circumstances in which God still pursues us and what that might look like:
1. God Pursues Us in Our Sins
There is a poem called "The Hound of Heaven" that was written by Francis Thompson in the late 1800s which centers on the pursuit of a sinner by a loving God. If you’ve ever seen/heard a hound on the trail of a scent, they are relentless until they find the object of their pursuit. In the same way, the Lord pursues us “even while we were yet sinners” because our names are “written in the book of life before one of them even came to be”. The Lord reaches us and quickens our hearts toward Him. We then recognize that we are sinners in need of a Savior.
Does our sin end when we are born again? It ends as far as the Lord’s penalty for sin is concerned for He “removes our sins as far as the East is from the West” (Psalm 103:12) because Christ’s blood “has made us white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). However, as the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:15-20 says,
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
We need not become discouraged, though, because the Lord continues to pursue us even when we are still sinning. That still, small voice tells us “This is the way, walk in it”. It’s so important to heed the Holy Spirit’s voice because that conviction amid our sin is God pursuing us. Not as a harsh Father who wants to punish us, but as a Father who is compassionate and wants to help us avoid the consequences of sin.
If you are out there thinking you have done the unforgivable sin and that God has stopped pursuing you, please be assured that is not the case. Like the story of the prodigal son, God will pursue you and rejoice over you when you accept His love once again. His conviction is not meant to inflict guilt but to comfort you and direct you toward obedience.
2. God Pursues Us in Our Complacency
Some might say the most vulnerable time in a believer’s life is when everything is going great. We become complacent in our walk with the Lord whether it be depending more upon ourselves in the day-to-day activities or even in ministry work, or we are just enjoying life in general without much thought to spending time in the Word, prayer, or church attendance. It is at those times when God’s pursuit of us may actually show itself through a situation that draws us back to our knees. Whether it be a health situation, a relationship problem, a personal struggle, really whatever it might take to draw you back to Him.
That’s not to say we should be looking for the other shoe to drop and not enjoying our lives. For we are told that Jesus came to give us abundant life. We’ve all been there, though, when life seems to get in the way of our time with the Lord. I’m sure we can all remember a time when things were going great until they weren’t, at which time we returned our focus back to the Lord.
This type of pursuit by God is one of unconditional love. A love that wants to be in communion with us throughout our days, despite how easily we may forget Him.
3. God Pursues Us in Our Trials
The year 2023 was a very, very difficult year for me. Well, it actually began toward the end of 2022 when I had RSV. I was very sick and discovered that not much can help with your breathing. I ran a high fever for a week! I also found out I had lung nodules which was a very frightening diagnosis. Then the weekend after Thanksgiving 2022 I got COVID and ran a fever for another whole week, not to mention my lungs hadn’t recovered from the RSV. Two days after recovering from COVID, I got the flu! Again, I ran a fever for a week. Enter the beginning of 2023, exactly 90 days to the day from the last time I had COVID and I got it again! In the midst of all of this, our family was going through a crisis unrelated to sickness. I definitely was feeling Job-like.
I remember my dad saying to me, “I don’t know how you are doing it.” I said to him, “I don’t know either, but what I do know is that the Lord is giving me strength through all of this because I don’t even recognize my own response as it wasn’t very Karen-like, but way more the peace that surpasses all understanding-like.” I had some other health scares in 2023 as well which, praise God, ended up not being anything. To say that I have been tested over the last year is an understatement, and that, dear reader, was God pursuing me. You might think, “Wait, what? I’m good. I don’t want God pursuing me like that!”
What I want to address, though, is I think many people feel that God has abandoned them when they are faced with all manner of difficult circumstances or even a single event that knocks them for a loop. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Satan loves to do that, doesn’t he? Create doubt in our minds that “God isn’t really with you. God’s done this to you and abandoned you.” But what 2022-2023 has taught me is that God’s presence and pursuit are never felt more closely than when we are going through fiery trials. He is right there in the fiery furnace with us. He sings over us with songs of comfort and peace.
4. God Pursues Us in Our Calling
Years ago when I became an empty nester, I felt a tug toward women’s ministry. I was terrified of what that might entail (being mostly introverted with a tendency toward being anxious) but also excited. Through a series of God-ordained events, I ended up being asked to be a co-facilitator for our women’s Bible study and eventually asked to be the lead mentor for our Mothers of Preschoolers group where I was asked to share a devotional in front of 70 women! Okay, back to feeling terrified again, lol, but seriously, this was way out of my comfort zone!
A godly woman once told me that in ministry it is important to depend on God wholly—not on ourselves—and so I did. The day I spoke to the women my heart was pounding and I was shaking! On top of that, I had a cold and wasn’t feeling great! But God… That day I depended so much on Him and He brought me through it! Afterward, the women were telling me they couldn’t tell that I was nervous and offered me sweet encouragement. All Praise to God!
I believe the Lord allowed the anxiety coupled with a cold virus so that I would depend on Him. He was pursuing me in my calling through what seemed like annoyances, but in the end, they proved to be God wanting to show me His strength through weakness.
When we open our eyes to God’s activity and truly accept that He will never stop pursuing us, we will know and understand just how treasured we are. Don’t allow Satan to cause doubt in your mind, but take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Remember, His earthly pursuit will carry us through to that great day when He brings us safely to our eternal home.
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