He's Chasing Us

Do you have times in your prayer life when you feel like you are not in communication with God? That he is far away? Some mornings, my prayer time is rich and full. Sometimes I am so distracted that I barely make it through a sentence, and my mind starts to wander, far away from what I am doing. Unfortunately, there are also days when I just fall asleep.

I read a devotion the other day by John Fischer called Communication Breakdown. He's talking about those times when we don't pray, and we move away from God. I really like how he ended the devotion; I had never thought of it this way before:

He's speaking to God as he says, "I think I’m getting it now. No matter how far I may have strayed away, it’s always a short trip back. The breakdown in communication was only on my part, never yours. I don’t have to retrace my steps back to the last place I got off before I can hear you again, because you’ve been dogging me the whole way. As soon as I turn my heart and attention toward you, you are there to meet me because you never left.

It seems almost too good to be true. Where did I get the idea it’s supposed to be so hard?

It reminds me of prevenient grace. God is chasing us. He's not standing around, waiting for us to get our act together, to turn around and come back to him. He's chasing us.

In my church's Lenten devotional for today, the author writes, "How comforting to know that no matter how difficult life is that 'God has our back!'" God has our back. Not only that, but God is right there, at our back. We often say that God does not leave us alone. Why is it that sometimes, we insist that he does? Why are we convinced that we can run far away from Him? He will not leave us alone; He chases us.

Matthew 11:28-30 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Memorize that. Write it on your heart: "Learn the unforced rhythms of grace."