When I think of seeking God, I picture a pursuit. In many ways that is true, but I have learned in the course of doing this series it is not nearly as difficult as I have sometimes imagined. The staggering truth is, the Father first pursued me. Apart from that I would be wandering, lost in a world I can never call home. Once captured by love and grace, I am never separated from Him.
Now begins the process we've talked about over the past three weeks - this passionate pursuit of Him. I imagine myself running hard and laying aside the things that hinder my progress. But what if part of that progress is going back?
Not too long ago I heard someone say (and I can't remember who), "Sometimes seeking is looking back, remembering what God has done." It is stopping, turning and retracing the steps of faith. It is kneeling beside the markers we've placed in remembrance of those times when God met us in a special way.
Perhaps it was a moment of sheer joy - a prayer answered, a gift given, a glimpse of His face in the face of a loved one, a gentle whisper of the Spirit, a deep time of worship.
Or it may have been during a time of great suffering when you knew He was there - a sense of peace in the midst of turmoil, a word of encouragement when it seemed all hope was gone, a sense of His presence in the darkest night, joy in spite of great sorrow, a breaking of the chains, a deliverance, a healing, a miracle.
Every once in a while, especially when the landscape of your soul looks like a desert and you are parched and dry, it is good to look back and see the faithfulness of the One who loves you with unfailing love. To be reminded of the ways He has loved and cared for you.
He never changes. What He has done before, He will do again. And in the pursuit, we rest a while.
Blessings,
Linda
