Tag: Pursuit

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Relentless Pursuit – Part 2

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.” ‭‭Hosea‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It is so interesting that I providentially landed on these verses this morning. I just finished off a sermon series yesterday called, “A Better Us – Relentlessly Pursuit.” (https://bit.ly/chasinghumans).

From Adam & Eve, to Moses, to David, to Hosea and more, God has come after us. He comes after us in our disobedience, our disagreements, our depression, even our denials! An 1890 poem by Francis Thompson captures it. God is the Hound of Heaven.

God pursues us because he loves us, He wants us to walk with Him, find beauty, strength and freedom in Him. The Hosea story is the wildest twist of an awkward, even controversial love. God tells Hosea to marry Gomer, a known prostitute. This whole story is a physical, marital, family object lesson about how unfaithful Israel has been with their love covenant with God. In the end, Hosea has to pay to buy his own wife back, out of the sex slave industry – ”So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine,” ‭‭Hosea‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬.

It was not so easy to buy back Israel though. God promised that one day it would happen and it did 800 years later! The price to buy Israel back from their sex (idolatry) and death slavery was the death of His own son, Jesus. God chased humans then, He still chases humans today – all over the globe, in every minute of every day. God still chases after YOU and me. In the sermon I talked about how wonderful it is for someone to pursue us (not it a stalker kind of way).

For someone to know whether I live or die, when I love or lose love, when I’m healthy or sick? To be known and loved by God is the greatest feeling and experience we will ever know. Even when we run, hide, rebel or become an enemy of God – He yet pursues. Read these verses David wrote in Psalms.

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.”

Psalm 139:7-12 “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.”

Let God catch you ALWAYS.

Prayer

​Dad,
I am so thankful you pursued me and you still come after me! I am in awe to see your patience and mercy in the very long story of your people – Israel. Yet, you do not withhold judgment nor justice. And, You are the only one qualified to make those justified decisions.

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Relentless Pursuit

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“And all the people in the region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them. So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake. The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying, “No, go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭8‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Is your calling to go or stay? After a terrorizing night on the beach, where Jesus (a Jewish Rabbi and his 12 Jewish disciples) landed on the shores of Gerasenes. Gersa was a part of the larger Roman Decapolis or ten cities. Jesus purposely crossed the Galilee for an appointment with divine destiny.

No self respecting Jew would have anything to do with this area of the eastern shore. It is believed that the Decapolis was the “Las Vegas” of its day, where there was entertainment, exploration and excitement galore. Gerasenes was known to the locals as “pig island” because of the vast herds providing pork meat products supplying the massive festivals in the arenas. Where there were personal vomitoriums, like public toilets, surrounded the outdoor stadiums, whether it is true or not, decadence was absolutely a big part of the Roman celebrations.

We don’t know where the “tomb man” came from, nor his history. But we do know where he ended up! Out of his mind, and the under control of thousands of demons – his body was like an influencer’s party at an Airbnb. After Jesus exercised the demons out of the man and allowed them to take temporary residence in a large herd of pigs, the response was immediate. The locals wanted Jesus to GO, but the exercised man wanted to go with him! The villagers and the previously demon possessed man were apparently afraid. The difference is, the villagers were afraid of Jesus bringing this kind of power over demons but they also saw that Jesus had power over their entire economy! The pig herders didn’t want Jesus to wipe out any more of their financial income.

The now safe-n-sane man was also afraid. He was afraid to go back to his own community, realizing that his previous life had likely burned all of his relational bridges. He was afraid of the power of his past. The now freed man begged Jesus to take him with them, but Jesus told him “No.” Jesus wanted him to go back to his family, back home where everyone knew his story. Interesting that his “discipleship” path led him back, not forward to follow the savior. Jesus gave him one simple but profoundly difficult command, “Tell them everything that God has done for you.” Some folks journey doesn’t lead them off to extraordinary adventures where life is hard, where the mission field requires language and cultural training. Some are called, chosen to go back to where they came from. Back to the familiar place, where people know them and know their story well.

Jesus was telling him to go back and live a whole different story, starting with the one where he was roommates with 2,800 devils. He had crazy fits of rage, and was a constant danger to anyone that tried to come near to help. But the new story, where he had been set free, now had the power of the love of God radiating from every pore of his soul! This amazing story shows us that Jesus clearly wanted the previously known mad-naked-man to follow him, but to do so by going back to his people, immediately illustrating that God wants us to both BE a disciple but also MAKE disciples. This story also illustrates how God relentlessly pursues the human heart, stopping at nothing to free us and give us a whole new story to tell.

This is how God pursues – endlessly, constantly. Mad naked man only knew how to cut himself, to fend off suicidal whispers. He only knew how to scream from the intense pain of torture and imprisonment. He ran towards Jesus in hope that he could help him, save him! You don’t think God pursues you? Look again. In your torment, fighting to stay alive while whispers of death haunt your mind – scream out to Jesus! He will meet you on the beaches of your own pig island and set you free.

Prayer

Dad,
My life had nowhere near the trauma of the mad naked man, but who knows where it might have gone. All I know is that you saw me, spoke to me and offered me the relationship I needed most – to be my Father. You saved me and are constantly setting me free from my past. I live because you re-wrote my story and now I am yours forever.