Pursuing God: What's Stopping Us?

Do we truly understand what it means to pursue God?

When one thinks of the word “pursue,” it may bring to mind one of two things—pursuing a criminal to bring him or her to justice or pursuing another person in relationship.

Let’s look at the latter example for a moment. In this “instant culture” we live in, traditional courting isn’t the norm anymore in relationships. Instead, there’s something like a “You wanna?/Sure./Okay” kind of communication that takes place, and suddenly the relationship has “become serious.” But we’ve also forgotten what a “serious relationship” used to look like. It used to mean that a man and woman wanted to honor one another and take things slow enough to give the other person a chance to think and truly make informed decisions. It used to mean honoring parents or guardians enough to get permission and seeking that blessing as a vital part of the dating process, regardless of the relative age of the couple in question. It was a matter of doing what was right and honoring all concerned. There were important issues of timing as well—and courting meant caring enough to be patient.

I remember my mom telling me how my dad “pursued” her—how he didn’t give up, how he kept coming around—until he had successfully won her affections. Pursuing was a sign that the person one was after was worth all the time in the world—to get to know and, hopefully, spend the rest of one’s life with. It was a romantic and purposeful endeavor, to say the least.

But is that how we treat God, the lover of our souls? Do we put effort into how to express our love and admiration to Him? Do we think about Him all the time and plan out “dates” with Him? Does His presence make our hearts go pitter-patter? Or does just thinking about Him?

I Chronicles 16:11 says, “Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.” We need  God’s presence in order to have the strength He provides—we need to know Him and understand just how He sees our lives. In order to get His heart and perspective, we must seek (pursue) Him.

Hebrews 11:6 is one of the first Scriptures I ever committed to memory as an adult—“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” We come from the premise of knowing He is waiting to reward us. He is generous toward us; He is not going to hide His face from us when we are earnest in drawing near to Him.

In childlike faith, we must make a heart commitment—which will be reflected in a time commitment. Anyone who’s been in a thriving relationship knows that it takes time in order to thrive. And isn’t our Creator, our Savior, our Comforter and Friend most worthy of our time?

Psalm 16:11 promises, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Not only will the Lord meet us in our secret place—He will lead us on a path of life and fill us with joy—and we will have the pleasures our Father provides not just now but eternally. What a great and loving God!

He is the one who “first loved us” (I John 4). We are His children, His beloved, His chosen ones, joint heirs with Christ—He lavishes His love on us (I John 3:1). Psalm 23:6, in the Message, declares, “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.” Our God is in pursuit—and there’s nothing we can do to stop Him. So what’s stopping us?