If we’re honest, we’ll admit that we’re always looking for something more than what we have, even if we seem to have a lot. It may be something we can’t quite put a finger on, but we feel its lack and a certain craving for it inside us. Could that thing we’re looking for be God? The Good News is, God is looking for us.
God is truly seeking you. He has made Himself flesh for you because He is madly in love with you. And if you’re longing for Him in return, you will find Him right here on Earth. You will find him in the person sitting, sleeping, or working next to you, and in the myriad of other people you meet in life.
The Hound of Heaven is a 182-line poem written by English poet Francis Thompson (1859-1907). In the poem, the speaker is running from God, as do many of us who get caught up in the world. But God pursues him. The speaker is aware of God’s love for him, but he continues to run, thinking that if he turns to God, he will have to give up the worldly pleasures he holds to.
The name is strange. It startles one at first. It is so bold, so new, so fearless. It does not attract, rather the reverse. But when one reads the poem this strangeness disappears. The meaning is understood. As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying and imperturbed pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God it seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit.– The Neumann Press Book of Verse, 1988
God loves us and so He seeks us. If we run from Him, it’s because we don’t really know Him. We cannot love someone we don’t know. Neither can we love someone we know little about. Trying to get to know God is on our shoulders. He is there, always, loving us. He is waiting.
Translating a World on the Edge 