Heart Tracks - The One Constant

"Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6

In response to the above Scripture, I've written down in my prayer journal, "The one constant in my life is that His goodness and unfailing love never cease to pursue me....even when my life is not what I want." That is the "one constant" for me, for you, for everyone. Yet it is our response to His pursuit that will determine everything.

It is so easy to feel alone, forgotten, unnoticed and unloved. Especially in the places of life that we would never have chosen to be in. Sickness, loss, sorrow, heartaches of every kind. It is in these places that we feel that He has abandoned us. Where we wonder not only if He's there, but is He even real? The devil will certainly whisper such suggestions into our ears. Indeed, he shouts them through the pain of our circumstances. Where is He? Where is this God of love? How could He allow this? How could He allow it to happen to me? To you?

The question of how a "good God" could allow such evil to take place in this world has been asked since the beginning of time. The reason we miss the answer is that we miss the cause. Evil entered into the world through the sinful choices of Adam and Eve. Sin is the world's sickness, and the Father, through Christ, is the only answer. Because of sin, we live in a fallen world, and no one is immune to the consequences of that. Christ died in response to it, and Christ rose to overcome it. That is the key. In a fallen world where sin and evil abound, His grace, love, and mercy abound more. Sorrow and loss can and do overtake us, but they in turn can and are overtaken by His love, mercy, grace and power. They pursue us even into the darkest prison of pain and loss. And His pursuit never ceases. All that can cease is our willingness to respond to it.

The 23rd Psalm speaks of "walking through the valley of the shadow of death." Maybe this is where you are right now. Maybe it's where you've been for a very long time. Whether you realize it or not, His love and grace pursue you there. Indeed, they are already all around you. You may believe that heartache is your one constant, but it is not. There is a greater one....Almighty God Himself. In Christ, He pursues you, and in fact, He's already there...already found you. Have you yet found Him?

The Psalmist writes of "dwelling in His house forever." Too many think of this as some future hope. It is not. It's a very present one. His house is His heart, and we may dwell there right now. His eternal life can be lived in right now. Charles Wesley wrote of being in a dungeon that suddenly flamed with His light. Whatever dungeon you may be in today, He can and will make it flame with His light. He has pursued you there and He is there. His love and life are the One Constant. May it be...let it be....the One Constant for you.

Blessings,
Pastor O