Seeking Yet Always Finding

*““My soul followeth hard after Thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me.” — Psa.m lxiii. 8.

THAT is one of the strange conjunctions which are to be found in the Scriptures. They frequently present the aspect of a contradiction. Here is a soul following after the Lord, and yet the hand of the Lord is resting upon him. In one way he is running after; in another way he has arrived. He is on the road, and yet he is at the goal. He is seeking the Lord, but yet he is in communion with Him. It is a paradox in speech, but it is a glorious commonplace in Christian experience. We can be in Christ, and yet we can be following after Him. We can be at rest in the Lord, and yet in zealous quest of Him.

Let us mark the vigorous strength of the Psalmist’s words. ‘‘ My soul followeth hard after Thee.’’ There is something very intense and strenuous about the figure of speech. Shall we be using the word unlawfully if we interpret it through the imagery of a hound which has found the scent of his prey and is now away on the alluring track in full pursuit? Francis Thompson has a great poem with the great title ‘‘ The Hound of Heaven,” and under this amazing figure he portrays the sleepless love which is always on the road in quest of the children of men. But may we not reverently say that there is another hound, the hound of earth, which follows the earthly track in sleepless pursuit of God? I mean the soul which is fiercely and continuously inquisitive for the scent of the King’s goings. It searches for the scent in tangled circumstances which are like an intricate brushwood. It searches for the scent across the bitter, marshy ground of tears. It brings all its discerning powers to searching out the path of the Lord in the wilderness of disappointment where the mirage allures us to dry and sandy wastes. “My soul panteth for God, for the living God.” Where is the way of my Saviour’s goings? Where is He whom my soul loveth? Such is the eagerness of the passionately consecrated life. It is like a hound, keen for the divine scent in every part of the great realm of human interest and experience. When the soul finds the scent, whether it be in the sphere of home, or in business, or in pleasure, or in politics, it follows hard after, and no caressing temptation is able to draw it aside. It runs in the way of God’s commandments.

But the quest of the Lord is not a one-sided affair of this kind. If there is the hound of earth, there is also the wonderful love which is the hound of Heaven. It comes forth to seek and to save. It finds us in our low estate. It secretly ministers to us in our quest. “Thy right hand upholdeth me.” The Heavenly lover brings secret resource to the runner. He administers His hidden manna to ward off faintness on the road. There is a mystic fellowship in which we eat His flesh and drink His blood. For is not this the wonderful ministry of Grace? The divine grace upholds us while we are on the way to God. It opens its bountiful wallet and brings us inspiration for the journey. It prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. We feast while we run.

* The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets.”