I fled Him, down the nights and down the days
I fled Him, down the arches of the years
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears.

So begins the poem written by Francis Thompson, The Hound of Heaven. Francis Thompson likens God to a hound, always in pursuit. And what is God always in pursuit of?

Man.

Can I be incredibly blunt here? Of course I can. It’s my blog.

This idea, this teaching, this mindset, just isn’t biblical. I find absolutely no basis for it’s idea in Scripture.  Some might point out to me the parable of the prodigal son. We all know the story. A rich man has two sons, the younger of the two decides one day that he’s had enough of life on the farm. So he tells his father, in essence, “I wish you were dead. Give me what belongs to me and I’ll just be on my way.”

For some unknown reason that boggles the mind, the father gives in and gives the son his inheritance. The son, as we know, hot foots it to town and spends his money. A famine comes and the son has no money and no food. He is hired to feed pigs (pigs!) and is doing that when he comes to his senses and decides to go home, throw himself on his father’s mercy, and ask to be a slave.

When he is still on his journey home, his father, who had spent every day watching for his return, sees him and runs to him. He welcomes him home with open arms, going so far as to kill the fatted calf in celebration.

His father waited at home for his son to return. He did not chase him down. He did not follow him, or run after him. He stayed where he was and waited.

We don’t like the idea of a God who waits for us. A God who waits is a God in control. And we don’t like the idea of a God in control. We are in love with the idea that we are in control and erroneously believe we can, and do, control God.

We run and we run and we run, so sure God is following in hot pursuit.He is waiting for us to be done running, done controlling, done giving orders, done playing games. He is waiting for us to get over ourselves and allow Him to be Himself in and through us so we can change a tired, sin-filled, sin sick world in desperate need of Him and His life.

John 6:44 clearly spells out what the Father does.

No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

He draws us to Himself. If He did not draw us, we would not desire Him. He doesn’t chase us, He draws us to Him.

He loves us with an everlasting love. He draws us with loving-kindness.

No one comes to Him, no one knows Him except those who come through Jesus and we come to Him through the blood. He draws us to Himself and to the Father. He puts us where He is; He does not put God where we are.  This elevates us above God and He is bigger than we are! He is God and quite frankly, my dear, we are not. We are but His humble servants.

When a king hires a servant he does not move into their house, instead he brings them into his house to live and serve Him. This is what Jesus has done. He has, because of His great love and mercy, transferred us from our home (the kingdom of sin, death and darkness) of humble but sinful means, and places us in Him.

Our mail still goes to our old address in the land of sin and death. But no one is there to get it and it is not forwarded. Sometimes though we will go back and check our mail, we will pick it up and read it. This causes the old reactions that are dead. We remember the we lived and we immediately fall back on it.

This is not where we live anymore, nor is it where we should want to visit. He set us free from that and our freedom wasn’t easy or cheap. Jesus fought the fight of His life to the death. He lost His life so we could find our life in Him.

We have made light of His sacrifice, we have made it of no impact on us. We do this every time we willfully return to our old ways, our old address and pick up our mail. We don’t live there anymore! He moved us out! Why do we keep going back to the dirty hovel when we live in a palace.

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of sin and death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25a) But thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)