Archives

Pursuing God

The lectionary readings for the week of March 30 come from Joshua 5, Psalm 32, 2 Corinthians 5, and Luke 15. We’ll take a peek at each of them in a moment. But before we do, I want to suggest there’s a common theme that runs through the four texts. That theme is “Pursuing God.”

We first find that idea in Psalm 32:1-5:

32 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
    and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

The psalmist’s life was out of sync with the life God had in mind for him. So, the writer went to God and confessed his sin. He admitted his transgressions to the LORD, and God forgave him. David pursued God to get the forgiveness he desperately wanted and needed.

In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Corinth, he urged them to turn to God so they could be people God wanted them to be:

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come . . . 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Paul had gone from persecuting Christians to inviting men and women to join him. He implored them: “be reconciled to God. Pursue the Lord and receive the righteousness God has for you.”

The Gospel text from Luke 15 is one of the most well-known parables in Scripture. The story of the Prodigal Son has been preached and told so often that most of us can tell it from memory. A key section of the parable reads as follows:

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

Like David in Psalm 32 and like the people Paul wrote to in 2 Corinthians, the prodigal son came to his senses, realized the life he was living was no life at all. So, he changed course, he gave up his squandering and eating with the pigs, and he pursued the person and the place that could restore him to life. He went back to the Father and to his home.

Now, I have to say that finding the “pursuing God” theme in Joshua 5 took a little bit of doing, but I think I found it in the first two verses of the text for the week:

9 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. 10 While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. 

The LORD declares that He has rolled away the reproach of Egypt from Israel. His people were now free from that stigma, that stain. And their response was to keep the Passover, to keep in step with the God that had delivered them; to, in effect, pursue the LORD and His covenant with them.

Pursuing God. Each of the passages describe a way that a person can move toward the Lord to know His love, experience His forgiveness, to be at home in Him, to pursue being reconciled to the God who has been pursuing us all along.

That’s the other thing these Scriptures said to me. We are invited to pursue the God who has been pursuing us all along. The Lord is a “Pursuing God.” You’ll find that truth in each of the Scriptures:

Psalm 32:8 - I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

2 Corinthians 5:19 - In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 

Luke 15:20 - But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him . . . 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Joshua 5:9 - And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you."

It is the initiative of the Lord God to pursue us that makes it possible for us to pursue Him.

- Dr. Alan Lyke serves as Provost for Nazarene Bible College.

Published: 04/04/2025

Archived News