Grace for the Race

Today’s word of encouragement comes from the inspired pen of the apostle Paul, who sent the young disciple Timothy on a mission of mercy into the lives of the Christians in Thessalonica.

We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith. (1 Thessalonians 3:2)

A simple mission—“sent to strengthen”—yet perhaps the most important mission you or I can engage in, and one that everyone in the body of Christ is able to do. There are no special gifts required to strengthen others. We don’t need years of higher education to prepare us to bring a blessing of strength to our family of faith; all we need is to know that this blessing is needed and we must have the willingness to go and offer it.

So . . . when was the last time you went on a mission of mercy to bring strength into the lives of others?

In this one verse of Scripture, Paul painted a profound picture of the call God has placed on the lives of everyone He has saved by grace through faith. You and I are called to strengthen and encourage each other (see, for example, 1 Thessalonians 5:11) and there are countless ways to do just that. There are people in your life right now who need you to strengthen and encourage them through the words you say and the deeds you do. Perhaps there is someone you need to call and reconnect with. Maybe there is someone you should make time to go visit. Every person in your life has been placed there by God for the specific purpose of providing both strength and encouragement, even on those occasions when you would rather not!

One of the best ways to understand the importance of what Paul did in sending Timothy on a mission of mercy is to recall a time when God sent a “Timothy” to you. A week does not go by at The Cross that someone does not come up to me after one of our services to give me a “holy hug” from God and offer a word of encouragement. And I can promise you that there is no one who needs it more or appreciates it more than me, and I never forget to tell them that.

I am often reminded of these words.

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. (Proverbs 16:24)

Jesus was the perfect model of providing strength and encouragement that is sweet to the soul and healing to the bones; as His disciples, our lives are to look like His life. From the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 to Peter on the beach in John 21, our Master’s mission of mercy always met people in their place of deepest need and left them strengthened and encouraged.

Can the same be said about us? May God make it so!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!    

When Adam and Eve sinned and turned away from God, they died spiritually. This truth is rooted in God’s covenant promise to them:

The Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

The biblical account records that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . . . but they were still walking around. (Actually, they were running around, looking for a place to hide from God!) Clearly they did not physically die.

Did God make an idle threat? No, that is something that the Sovereign Lord of the universe never does. He assures us, “What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do” (Isaiah 46:11). So how did God make good on His promise? The answer is that Adam and Eve died spiritually the instant they sinned against God; physical death would come later.

What we learn from Genesis is that our first parents did not need God to rehabilitate them; they needed God to rescue them. They were dead, and no amount of rehabilitation would ever do them any good.

You see, God’s saving grace does not make up for our deficiencies, as if we simply lacked a little goodness here and a little holiness there. We are dead, flatlined spiritually and in desperate need of rescue . . . not rehabilitation. We need rescue because we are guilty and filthy and separated from our God. Apart from Jesus Christ, we are enemies of God (Colossians 1:21).

Make no mistake, God’s grace does not make up for the “good” we lack. If it did, we would only be in need of a bit of rehabilitation. Rather, God’s grace rescues us from both sin and death, cancelling the debt we owe to God and can never pay.

We see this in Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, which is presented in Luke 18:9-14. Both men went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee was utterly confident in his own goodness. He thought that, at best, God owed him the blessing of eternal life and blessings in everyday life; at worst, God could perhaps supplement his goodness with a little rehabilitation in any areas where he might be lacking. The tax collector, on the other hand, knew he was beyond the reach of rehabilitation. He would not even raise his eyes to heaven, but bowed his head before the Lord and cried out for rescue: “God be merciful to me, the sinner!” The tax collector declared his utter spiritual bankruptcy and acknowledged his need of a Redeemer God who would rescue him from all unrighteousness.

Far from having a merit mentality and looking to God to supplement his shortcomings, this tax collector looked only to the mercy of God. And what was the result of looking for rescue rather than rehabilitation? Jesus said, that the tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified—that is, righteous in the sight of God.

Only when we see ourselves like this tax collector saw himself—as doomed sinners in need of God’s rescue—will we truly begin to appreciate what Jesus has done for us and allow this truth to transform our lives.

If all we needed was a bit of rehabilitation, there would have been no need for Jesus to go to the cross. He would have continued to disciple us, rather than die for us. But as 2 Corinthians 5:21 testifies, Jesus, who knew no sin—who needed no rescue or rehabilitation—became sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might rescued and clothed in the righteousness of God.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!    

In a world where a single word—TIRED—frequently best describes our condition, the Scriptures offer powerful insight on how to tap into God’s inexhaustible grace for an exhausted world:

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. (Psalm 62:1)

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:5)

Think about all the ways you seek to find rest for your weary soul. Sleep is the most obvious way to rest, of course, but we also seek to find rest in a variety of “distractions” that draw our attention—from hobbies, to recreation, to a favorite television show or movie, to some sort of electronic game, to countless other diversions.

The Bible tells us there is a far better way to get the rest we so desperately crave and need: our best rest is found only in God. There’s only one problem: that seems to be the place where we have a tendency to look last! Sadly, as with prayer, all too often we tend to go to God when all else has failed miserably.

But when we do turn to God, we find a rest that is both refreshing and restorative. God meets us in our place of deepest need and guides us into the rest that is found only in Him. You see, the Creator of the universe knows what is best for everything He created, and that includes you and me. He knows exactly the kind of rest we need to recharge our spiritual batteries so that we can do all that He is calling us to do.

David, whom God inspired to write Psalm 61, could seek his rest in God alone because He knew it was God who had given him both his salvation and his hope. His trust in God translated into a rest that could be found in no other way. He knew God was in control of all things, including his schedule and work load. He knew God always gave him the right amount of time to do all the things He had called him to do.

How is it with you? If you find yourself with too much on your plate, it may very well be that you have simply put too much on it!

In reading the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus, we see our Lord often going off alone to spend time with God. Jesus knew that in order for Him to do all that He intended to do, and in such a short period of time, He would have to balance His work with His rest and He knew the best rest is found on the other side of time alone with God. Many people tell me that they like to curl up with a good book when they are seeking a time of rest and relaxation. That’s a good thing to do . . . but there is one thing even better: making that “good book” the Good Book, the book that is alive and active and life-giving to all who spend time marinating in it and meditating on it.

So . . . how are you doing in the area of seeking the best rest God has to offer? It is the bridge that closes the gap between the life we are called by God to live and the life we are actually living. Hear our Savior’s lovely invitation to enjoy the best rest:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-30)

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN! 

The Bible is filled with examples of those who acted rightly even when wronged. Our Lord Jesus, of course, is the perfect model. But today I offer you a word of encouragement from the life of Joseph, who acted rightly in the face of being terribly wronged by those closest to him . . . his own brothers.

Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. (Genesis 37:26-28)

It’s hard to fully comprehend just how wronged Joseph was by his brothers. They hated him for the dreams God gave him and the favor their father showed him. So they decided to throw him into a pit and leave him to die. Then they sat and ate a meal, ignoring Joseph’s cries for mercy; after giving the matter more thought, they decided to sell Joseph into slavery . . . which was basically the same thing. When we read that Joseph was taken to Egypt, that was as much a death sentence as it would have been leaving him in the pit. Egyptian slaves were worked until they died. Joseph’s brothers never expected to see him again.

But God had other plans.

After 13 years of separation from everything he knew and suffering at the hands of pagan foreigners, accused of a crime he did not commit, and locked away in a prison cell, never to be heard from again, Joseph emerges as a picture of God’s amazing grace. Instead of being filled with anger and seeking vengeance against his brothers for his unimaginable and unjust circumstances, when given the opportunity for a little “payback,” Joseph acted rightly . . . in spite of being wronged.

After a famine in the land brought his brothers before him begging for food, Joseph uttered these extraordinary words:

“What you meant for evil, God intended for good!” (Genesis 50:21)

How was that possible? How could Joseph deal so kindly with those who were so cruel to him? It is simply because Joseph trusted in God even when he could not trace Him. Joseph kept his focus on God and not on his circumstances. If he had not, he would have become bitter and hateful. This, of course, would have diminished his ability to grow his service in the court of Pharaoh, and Joseph would have been heard from no more. But because of his Godward focus, Joseph knew God works everything for his own ends (Proverbs 16:4); he knew that “from him and through him and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36). Joseph knew that one day God would make the dreams He had given Joseph a reality, and ultimately God’s purposes would be accomplished through him.

With the power to punish his brothers who so wronged him, Joseph instead offered forgiveness and mercy, and he has gone down in history as a picture of God’s amazing grace of acting rightly even when wronged.

So . . . who needs to hear a word of forgiveness and grace from you this day?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

What lens do you use to look at your life? The apostle Paul has given us a set of lenses that will help us clearly see the key to living a life that truly matters:

Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ . . . (Ephesians 3:8)

Paul understood that the call God placed in his life had absolutely nothing to do with him. God did not call Paul because of who Paul was, but because of what God had determined to do through him. And because Paul saw himself for who he was—“less than the least of all God’s people”—God could use him to expand the cause of His kingdom without Paul getting in the way and messing it up!

You see, when we realize everything we have been called by God to do is simply a result of the grace that has been given to us, we are able to see ourselves through the lens of less than the least. I find it remarkable how Jesus led Paul on a divine descent that dismantled all personal pride and self-righteousness that would have limited Paul’s ability to serve his Savior.

I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (1 Corinthians 15:9)

Paul began by looking at himself through the lens of “the least of the apostles.” A prideful man, walking in his own strength and not God’s, might well have said, “I most certainly am not least!” After all, Paul was personally called into ministry by the resurrected Lord, which certainly put him in a special and unique category. But Paul took no pride in his exceptional circumstances, any more than he took pride in his religious pedigree. All these things he counted as “rubbish,” Paul wrote, “compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (You can read Paul’s remarkable denunciation of all his personal accomplishments in Philippians 3:4-9.)

In fact, as we’ve already seen, Paul widened his vision even further by looking at himself through the lens of “less than the least of all God’s people.” But he did not stop even there! There is one final destination on his divine descent, one that you and I must reach if we are going to maximize our service to our Savior:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the chief.

(1 Timothy 1:15)

We cannot begin to make a difference in this world by being different from this world . . . until we see ourselves as Paul saw himself. The world boasts about personal power; Paul boasted about his weakness. The world boasts about personal success; Paul boasted about his personal Savior. The world boasts about all it has accomplished and accumulated; Paul gloried in all that God has done. Paul looked at himself through the lens of the least, and by doing so, he became more than he ever could have imagined.

So . . . what lens have you been looking through lately? If it is anything other than the lens of the least, it is the wrong lens!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Tomorrow we celebrate American Independence Day, which memorializes the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. This was the day the Continental Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration of Independence, having already declared the independence of the Colonists from the authority of the British Crown on July 2, 1776.

Now, as important as this day is in the life of our great nation to recall our independence, I pray that you and I will remember to declare our utter dependence upon God—not only this day, but every day on this side of heaven.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:1-5)

As a pastor, I am often confronted with Christians who mistakenly believe that our state of dependence began after Adam and Eve sinned against God. NOT TRUE! Before Adam and Eve committed their first awful act of cosmic treason, they were totally dependent upon God for everything. Their divine design was one of utter dependence upon Omnipotence. They were made by God for God and were never to live a single moment independent from God. Self-reliance and self-rule were never part of their divine design . . . no, this quest for autonomous rule was the rancid fruit of their rebellion against their Creator and Sustainer.

The lies the serpent told Adam and Eve in the Garden convinced them to seek their independence from God and to live above and apart from the One who formed them and was sustaining them. But as soon as our first parents sampled the forbidden fruit, they immediately found out just how dependent they were upon God! Only now they were dependent upon God for His mercy and forgiveness, which they undeservedly received through the promise of a Savior.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel . . . And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Genesis 3:15, 21)

God would have been totally justified to strike Adam and Eve dead right on the spot to fulfill His perfect, holy justice, but He did not. What God’s justice required—payment for sin—God’s grace provided in the gift of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve were dependent upon God for life prior to sin, and they were dependent upon God for life after sin . . . through the cross work of Christ.

When was the last time you considered just how dependent you are upon God? Most people immediately reflect back on a season of struggle, suffering, or sorrow and consider how dependent upon God they were to get through it. But what about the times in life when the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the clouds are fleecy? We have a tendency to forget about our dependence upon God in seasons of plenty and prosperity.

Regardless of where this finds you, your next breath is dependent upon God. The next beat of your heart is dependent upon God. Your hearing, eyesight and the circulation of your blood are dependent upon God. If God were not upholding you right now, life as you know it would instantly cease. This is true, not only for every person who has ever lived, but for everything that was ever created. Everything in the cosmos was created by God for God and is totally dependent upon God. As Paul wrote to the Christians at Colossi, “All things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17). Everything under the sun originally existing as a holy hymn for God’s glory.

So on this day of Independence, let us all be reminded of our total and utter dependence upon God, “for in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

One last thought: the Bible makes it clear that the person who is most aware of his dependence upon God is the one who is most often pursuing God through prayer. The more you feel your need for Him, the more time you spend in prayer to Him. If your prayer life is short or shallow, you can be assured your sense of dependency upon God is short-circuited.

The Bible is full of examples of saints who were sold out in pursuing God through prayer. The model, of course, is our Master, who was in constant communion with His Father in heaven. Here is one of my all-time favorite verses:

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.   (Mark 1:35)

John Piper wrote that “Prayer for God’s help is one way that God preserves and manifests the dependence of his people on his grace and power. The necessity of prayer is a constant reminder and display of our dependence on God for everything, so that he gets the glory when we get the help.” Dependence is a good thing when we are depending upon God, and our prayer life is one of the best indicators of just how deeply we sense and show our dependence.

What better time than now, as we American’s celebrate Independence Day, to declare and celebrate our utter dependence upon the righteous, self-sacrificial, and benevolent rule of our gracious God?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The dictionary defines the word flourish this way: “To grow well; to be healthy; to be very successful; to do very well; to hold up.”

Would this define the life you are currently living? Here is David’s description of his own life:

I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.

(Psalm 52:8)

The significance of the olive tree in biblical times cannot be overstated. From eating to cooking to lighting to medicinal uses, the oil from olives was an important part of life. The key to an olive tree’s vitality is its vast root system, which enables the olive tree to grow in an arid, rocky environment.

David said his life experience was like the flourishing olive tree because of his root system. David was rooted in the unfailing love of His God; this is the key to faithful flourishing!

Now, please don’t misunderstand the word faithful. It does not mean living a perfect life before the face of God. David certainly did not live a perfect life, yet God described David as a man after His own heart. What that really means is that David’s heart beat for God, even though it beat for God imperfectly. David’s life beautifully illustrates this truth:

Flourishing is always mixed with a bit of Floundering!

The faithful followers of God understand that life will never be about perfection on this side of the grave. It is all about direction . . . the direction we are heading in. We will, from time to time, careen from wall to wall along the way to our intended destination; it may be that we will reverse our steps or sit stagnant for a period of time. But we will continue to travel in the direction God is calling us to go.

How is it with you? What direction is your life headed in these days? Toward God . . . or away from Him?

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David could say that he was flourishing like an olive tree in the house of God because he lived his life in the presence of God. He was continually conscious of God’s unfailing love; David trusted in God’s love even when he could not trace it. During those dark days when David was on the run from King Saul, he was presented with many opportunities to take Saul’s life, but David trusted in God’s perfect plan for his imperfect life. He trusted in the sovereign, unfailing love of his God even when those around him were telling him to trust in himself and take matters into his own hands.

So . . . what have you been trusting in lately? When God’s unfailing love rules your heart, it shapes your life and brings you a sense of flourishing that can be found in no other way.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!   

You’ve probably heard the country music song titled “You Were Always On My Mind” at some point in your life. The song was performed by many different artists back in the 70’s and 80’s, including Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson, who won a Grammy Award with his version.

Country crooners aside . . . did you know that there never was a time when you were not on the Master’s mind?

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

From everlasting to everlasting, you have been on God’s mind. That’s right! The Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe is thinking about you continually. You might very well think that God has enough to be thinking about in running the universe. Yet David rejoiced in Psalm 40:17, “I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me.” And this was coming from a man who committed adultery and ordered the death of his paramour’s husband. Indeed, in the very same psalm, David confessed that “My sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.” Yet the Lord still took thought of David, to deliver him from his troubles and from his own sin!

The truth in this life is someone can be thinking about you today and forget about you tomorrow. Think about all the people in your life you no longer think about . . . some of whom you loved dearly and many of whom you liked a lot! Staggering isn’t it?

But God is not a man that He should forget you. From before the creation of the world and everything in it, you were on God’s mind and in His heart (Ephesians 1:4-5). From the moment of your first breath and every breath thereafter, God has thought about you, loved you, and drawn you with His loving-kindness.

And God’s lovingkindness doesn’t stop when you take your last breath here! If you have placed your trust in His Son, you will be forever on His mind throughout eternity as you walk with Him and talk with Him and rejoice in Him.

Right now Jesus has you on His mind. Regardless of where this finds you, Jesus is thinking about you at this very second. That thought should absolutely rock your world! Remember that terrible night when Peter denied Jesus; after the third denial, the Lord looked at him across the courtyard (Luke 22:61). Peter must have thought Jesus hated him and would never think of him again . . . but you remember the rest of the story, don’t you? After His resurrection, Jesus reaffirmed Peter and assured him that his sin has not stopped Jesus from thinking about him. In fact, the exchange they had (recorded in John 21:15-22) confirms that Jesus had great plans for Peter to engage in courageous, compelling ministry work.

When we think we have utterly blown it and are convinced God would want nothing more to do with us ever, we discover that the exact opposite is true. God keeps drawing us with His love, even when we deny and desert Him. Remember, Jesus said He will never leave nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), no matter what you do. And that means you will always be on His mind.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!    

Perhaps you have heard the term “mired in debt,” which means someone is in a troublesome situation regarding their finances. “Mire” is thick, deep mud or slush that makes travel and forward progress difficult, if not impossible.

Does that word “mire” resonate with you? Have you ever thought that you were stuck in the mire of life? If so, I want to offer you great comfort: God can take us from the mire to the choir!

Drink in these words from one of David’s inspired psalms:

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40:1-3)

King David was in a mess, which is the universal life experience for everyone. The fact that we are all broken people living in a broken world means we will all find ourselves bogged down in the mire of life from time to time . . .

• Trouble at the office
• Difficulties in marriage
• Prodigal child
• Broken relationships
• Financial reversals
• Health concerns

The list, of course, could fill this page. We all encounter life experiences that can lead to discouragement, depression, and utter despair. The question is not, “Will we find ourselves in the mire of life?” The question is: “What will we do when we are in it?”

There is Hope . . . and His name is Jesus Christ. He can take us from the mire to the choir. The psalmist said “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” Our Lord will lift us out of the mire and put us on a straight path again . . . but that’s not all. His divine rescue gives us a new song of praise to God! “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.”

David knew that the way out of the mire to the choir was to keep his focus on God and not the circumstances of life. The king of Israel knew personally what it meant to reach rock bottom, but he also knew that when he reached bottom, he was still standing on the Rock of his salvation.

Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. (Psalm 40:4)

The key to going from the mire to the choir is to continually make Jesus your trust. Whatever pit you find yourself in, remember Jesus is there with you. Keep looking to Him and in His time and in His way, you will be lifted out of the pit and brought into His palace, going from “mire” to choir forevermore.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN! 

When you think about Jesus, what kind of Savior comes to mind? Do you picture a Savior who is waiting for you to come to Him . . . or do you picture a Savior in hot pursuit of rebels on the run? Consider these inspired words that King David offered in the 23^rd Psalm:

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:6)

David knew that God is good (Psalm 34:8); that God is love (1 John 4:16); and that He is merciful (Deuteronomy 4:31). David’s life experience testified that his Savior is a Pursuing Prince.

Adam knew this by way of personal experience also. After turning his back on God and following the way of the serpent, Adam fled in terror when he heard God walking through the garden; no doubt he assumed that the Lord God was coming to destroy him and start over with some better dust! But to his astonishment, God was not pursuing him to punish; He was running to redeem. It’s a picture almost too hard to believe . . . too good to be true! The Creator and Sustainer of all things—the righteous and holy Judge of all the world—was pursuing two people who had decided to follow their own desires rather than the clear command of God . . . not to crush them, but to care for them.

Francis Thompson penned a poem titled “Hound of Heaven,” which beautifully depicts our God as a “holy hound” who is in hot pursuit of the hare. No matter where the hare runs and tries to hide, the hound will let nothing stop him from catching that rabbit on the run . . . but not to kill it; rather to caress with love! Is this not a wonderful picture of our God? No matter where we run to and try to hide, God will let nothing stop Him from reaching the objects of His desire: US!

In another psalm, David marveled, Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139:7-10)

To know what David knew is a source of both comfort and courage. What comfort to know that goodness and love will pursue us all the days of our lives! And oh, what courage that truth brings to our hearts to face whatever storms blow our way! The courage to face the challenges of daily living is rooted in knowing that our God loves us and will work everything together for our very best interests. There is no question that some really bad stuff happens in this life. Yet through it all, God will ultimately turn it for our good and His glory.

One final point: Knowing that goodness and love will follow you wherever you go is one thing; to know that you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever is another thing altogether. The sheep are always at home with the shepherd; and if one wanders off, the shepherd will go after him and bring him back home.

All those who have trusted in Jesus Christ for their salvation can enjoy the deepest level of comfort and security and peace, knowing that God’s home is their home for all eternity. And along the way, their daily experience will be that goodness and love is in hot pursuit of them . . . regardless of the paths they travel.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!