If you’ve listened to me for long, you know I have a slight obsession with P words. It’s as if God allowed all the best words in the English language to begin with P, then he plops them in my lap on the daily as a little gift that makes me smile. I mean come on, purpose, and passion, and possible, and potential … it’s almost unfair how the letter P hoards all that goodness.
And this morning, I’ve been geeking out over another P word right out of God’s word that he has plopped in my lap. I’ll read the scripture and when you hear the word, shout it out.
Psalm 23:6 “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.”
Did you catch it? There it is in all it’s glorious P’ness. (That sounded better in my head.) PURSUE.
To pursue means to follow closely in order to catch. So imagine this, God and all of his goodness and love that just can’t fail is following you closely in order to catch you. And it’s not just happening today, it’s happening all the days of your life.
Every day, even the hard days … heck, especially the hard days, God is pursuing you. Pursuing you with his custom fit goodness just for you. You know that goodness that when you receive it, you get that little tingle down deep in your soul that makes you feel seen, makes you feel heard, makes you feel special.
For me, it’s a sky that is hot pink. Every time the morning or evening sky is magnificently hot pink, I know that is God’s goodness pursuing me. He did that especially for me. I’m all swept away in that goodness feeling all favored and chosen, and specifically loved. And you know what … I am! God did that for me, and to recognize it isn’t selfish, it is humility. I can’t make that sky, that’s God. And when it shows up in my favorite color, of course he did it for me. Not because of anything I’ve done, but because of who he is and who has declared me to be.
I have a whole list of things that I receive as special creations just for me. Such as avocados and mangoes. I mean, I will happily share them with you, but I’m pretty sure God made avocados and mangoes especially for me because he knew how much I would love them. Do y’all remember 2 years ago when I was walking through a neighborhood in Florida and the biggest, most beautiful mango had fallen off the tree, somehow rolled for yards on a very flat yard, and was placed perfectly on the sidewalk for me? I traveled a few thousand miles with that mango, waiting for it to ripen, then the day came when I was in the deserts of Texas and I finally bit into it. I burst into tears. It was the most glorious thing I had ever tasted, and I knew my God had done that just for me.
Girl, look around, what has your God done just for you? If you’re going through your days thinking he hasn’t done anything special for you, you sure are missing out on a whole lot of joy. There’s proof all around you of God’s personal involvement in the details of your life.
Understand as our scripture from yesterday says, Psalm 37:23, “the Lord delights in every detail of our lives.” So those little details of your day should not be overlooked and dismissed. No, examine them for God’s fingerprints. I’m telling you every perfectly ripe avocado has God’s fingerprints all over it for me, and I receive it as proof of his goodness pursuing me.
Do you even know what simple things make you happy anymore? Can you still be swept away by a rainbow in the sky, or your favorite flower all loud and proud dressed in your favorite color? Are you still impressed by the scent of rain, the songs of the birds, the glow of the moon? Honey, can’t you see God has put this beauty on display for you to remind you of his love, to show you his care, and to prove his sovereignty over the details of your life.
The MSG translation of Psalm 23:6 says “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.”
Why in the world would we run from it? Why not just be totally caught up in all this beauty and all this love that has been here for us all along?
Jesus taught us to look at the birds and the flowers, and see God’s care in them, and to know as perfect as they are, we are even more precious and cared for. All of this beauty is here as a reminder of God’s love for you, his prized and most precious creation. Don’t you see it? Won’t you receive it? It’s for you!
You are being pursued. Followed. Chased. Go ahead and be caught today. Wrapped up in his goodness. Swept away by his love.
You know what we should do today? We should just pause and look back. Seriously, look back and see how God has been pursuing you through all of this. Everything that has happened, through every season, every up and down, God has surely been chasing you with goodness. If you look back, can you see it? Can you see how he has taken everything that has happened and he’s been back there working it together to use it for good now? Can you see how he has been so faithful to not let anything be wasted in your life? He’s been picking up the pieces and making things news.
Now, here’s the really cool thing about God, he is omnipresent, meaning he is not limited to one time and space. He is behind you pursuing you, but honey, he is also in front of you aligning provision and blessings, making a way for you. He’s back here turning this crap into fertilizer, but he’s up there forming clouds to bring the needed rain, all of this together so that you grow.
Many years ago we had a pastor in Missouri who told the funniest stories. One story has always stuck with me. He shared that his father-in-law absolutely loved picking up coins. With each coin he would find, he felt blessed and highly favored. It was his thing … kinda like my thing is hot pink skies.
So, knowing this, the son-in-law would often take him for walks through the woods, weighted down by heavy pockets. What was in his pockets? Coins. He would sneak ahead of his father-in-law and secretly reach into his loaded pockets and throw coins all along the trail. And oh the delight this man would exude as he found tons of coins on their walks together. Each coin a personal reminder of God’s goodness and favor over him.
Y’all this is what God does for us. He not only pursues us with goodness, but his omnipresence allows him at the same time to go ahead of us and spread proof of his love everywhere for us to just stumble right into.
What if we could live with our eyes a little wider today finding proof of God’s pursuit of us. All this beauty, all this goodness, all these little details that have somehow worked out, that’s just God pursuing us! Behind us and before us. All around us. In the past working all that has happened together to become something good, and in our future aligning split second perfect timing for his divine plans to unfold right before us.
Gosh, we are loved. Gosh, we are treasured. And honestly, we are spoiled. So spoiled with this goodness that has chased after us every day of our lives, that we are guilty of often living days, weeks, months, maybe even years, without pausing to recognize we are being relentlessly pursued by a God who has unfathomable goodness for us.
Today, pause and be caught. Be wrapped up. Be swept away. Be completely undone by the pursuit of the One who loves you without fail.
What’s chasing you? Goodness and mercy. Beauty and blessings. Love with the power to change any thing and all things! That’s what is coming after you! You have absolutely nothing to worry about.
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