Run!

[I apologize for the tardiness of this post. We discussed this December 2, 2008]

“My soul followeth hard after Thee, Thy right hand upholdeth me.”
Psalm 63:8

Often times Scripture uses the word “walk” to describe our relationship with the Lord. This word merely means to “live;” it by no means intends to convey the message that “living” with Jesus Christ is a stroll in the park. On the contrary, it is described here as following hard after God. This then begs the question, what does it mean to follow hard after God?

The original text for “followeth hard” is דבק (dabaq) which means to “pursue with the intent to catch.” The imagery used here is far from a casual walk – we are to run hard after God, as hard as if we were trying to catch Him!

This concept was brought to life for me this summer while working at IGA Quality Foods. We were experiencing a dramatic increase in shoplifting, so the management recruited one of the stockers to act as “security.” If ever there was a shoplifter that was trying to run off with goods, this man was to chase them down, tackle them, and bring them back to the store. It was his job to pursue people and catch them. If in the midst of his pursuit an obstacle arose, he hurdled it. If he stumbled and fell, he’d rise and continue the pursuit even harder. No person or obstacle would deter him from chasing this person down. In the same way, when we are in “pursuit to catch” God, we must not allow obstacles to slow us down! We must not allow our attention to wander and stray lest we trip and fall, or become enticed to run after something else. And even if we do stumble, we must not resign ourselves to defeat, rather we must pick ourselves up and continue to run! “Living” with God is not a mere stroll in the park, it is an all-out sprint!

One problem quickly arises. If in our analogy, the stocker was chasing after someone, but did not really care about his job, would he run with all his might? If he did not care about the good of the store, would he sprint as hard as he could? Pursuit to catch for an extended period of time is really only possible if you truly treasure the object which you are running after. If you do not see it as precious and valuable, if you do not delight in it, will you run as hard as you can after it? And so I remind us once more that the “object” which we are in pursuit of is God. We are to be sprinting after Him. Thus, we must treasure Him, we must see Him as infinitely valuable lest we suddenly decide the pursuit is not worth our while.

You might say, “Well, I’m with you so far, Barry. Indeed, I see that my relationship with Christ is one of vigor and fervor. However, do you truly expect me to sprint after God for my entire life? I cannot sprint for 80 years!” It is remarkable that God always seems to ask of us the impossible. Why? So that we might trust Him to do it. We are able to pursue God “as if to catch” because of the second half of Psalm 63:8. “Thy right hand upholdeth me.” Indeed, if we were left to our own strength, we would quickly falter, we are not capable of running at a dead-sprint for very long. However, it is the very strength of God which maintains those who would sprint after Him.

Paul affirms this in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 when he states:

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

This is amazing when we consider the life Paul lived. He had people mocking and scorning him, he was beaten, bruised, stoned, shipwrecked, and thrown in jail. Paul’s ministry was physically killing him. Day by day, nearly each choice he made to follow hard after God resulted in his physical body being beaten and broken. Yet in the midst of this, he says that he does “not lose heart. Though [his] outer self is wasting away, [his] inner self is being renewed day by day.” Though he underwent this harsh persecution, though his body was being slowly broken, he says his “inner self is being renewed day by day.” How is this possible? Paul realized that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” His focus was not on the pain of this world, but on the massive inheritance awaiting him in heaven. The suffering we undergo now is truly only for a brief time, and it fades in comparison to the enormity of the everlasting glory awaiting us.

So, run hard after God. Pursue as if to catch. Let no obstacle hinder you. If you fall, get up and keep running. Keep your eyes focused on the Lord of glory and run!