Hot Pursuit

Then [Moses] said to [YHWH], "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us?" So the LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name." And [Moses] said, "Please, show me Your glory." (Exodus 33:15-18 NKJV)

"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV)

A Psalm of David ...
O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness [chesed] is better than life,
My lips shall praise You....
My soul follows close behind You [follows hard after You];
Your right hand upholds me.
(Psalms 63:1-2,8 NKJV, amplified)

It seems every story worth telling—whether the subtle romance of "Sense and Sensibility," the carnage-packed action of "Saving Private Ryan," or the silliness of "Emperor's New Groove"—has three elements: discovering an essential aspiration, relentlessly pursuing the objective, death in the pursuit.

That death may be loss of life, loss of ego, or loss of something which made one come alive and is now forfeited. If one turns back in selfless sacrifice, the tragedy is bittersweet. If one turns back for lack of courage, the tragedy is only tragic. But something inevitably dies.

Faith is a story of death, whatever the course of the pursuit, whatever the ending. To discover God is to discover life's only true essential. To relentlessly pursue Him is to face death. To turn back—whether for a moment, a season, or a lifetime—is life's greatest tragedy. We do not truly live until we know for what we are willing to die.

Oh God, You are my God. You have captured my attention and compelled my pursuit. Your grace is better than life itself. Please uphold me by Your hand, that I do nothing less than follow hard after You, as if glued to you, and do not turn back for even a moment, whatever must die in the chase.

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Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy