Bending Beneath the Weight of God's Pursuit

A quick note as I run out the door.

Tolkien, a master of long, epic verse, wrote a short poem parts of which may be familiar to you.

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

The second line of that poem hit me hard today in prayer. I said it over and over to myself, thinking of a few people God has put in my life who seem lost and drowning and distant. My sadness turned to joy as I realized the truth of Tolkien's word. In Exodus 20:5, God tells Israel that he is "a jealous God." And again in the New Testament we hear of God's "divine jealousy" (2 Corinthians 11:2).

O Lord, you pursue us, you follow us, you see your will to completion, and we have no power to resist you. Your grace is irresistible to those you've chosen. Go after those who stray from the flock, for you go after every lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7)! This is our assurance that not all who wander are forever lost to your Kingdom. Let this be, O gracious Father, the succor of our anxieties! You alone are sovereign; you alone are worthy of all the honor, the praise, the wisdom, the power, the glory! Amen.