I loved chasing fireflies when I was a child.
I loved chasing my cousins in a good game of Hide&Seek.
I loved chasing the chickens around the yard – until the Mother hen would turn on me.
I just loved a good chase!
Now that I am not able to chase much of anything, I have found that chasing after Jesus is the most important chase in my life.
Musician Charlie Hall wrote the worship song, “Chasing” and the words are a beautiful reflection of the believer’s relationship with Jesus. Let me share some of the words with you.
And I’m chasing after You ’cause/You first chased after me/And You purchased me with blood/I am free I am complete/Now a child of my King/Leaving old I am made new/’Cause You first chased after me
I am chasing after You
Another popular worship song is “Reckless Love”, some of those words say:
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
In a recent study in the Song of Songs, I realized that this is a story of chasing love.
The third chapter of the book describes a chase:
3 All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves; Looking
I looked for him but did not find him.
2 I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves. Searching
So I looked for him but did not find him.
3 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart love. Finding
This describes two seemingly contradictory things: lying on the bed and chasing after the one she loves. She is having a dream in which she cannot find the one she is betrothed to soon marry. Her state of mind is one of longing to be with the one she loves and distressed because she is separated from him. Her journey to find him takes her into the streets of the city and she pleads with the guards to help her and no more does she make this request than she finds him.
Love delights in the nearness of the lover. We want to be with the one we love. True loving relationships take time and energy and must be pursued. Whether it is in our marital relationships, love between a parent and child, or our love for God/Jesus, we “run after” the ones we love. Passivity is not an option.
She resolves, “I will” search for him. This is an intentional action to seek for him in every place she can go and asking those she finds to help in her search. Can you relate to her desire to find her loved one and quickly?
We physically lost our son, Richard, when he was about seven. We were “enjoying” a fun day at Six-Flags and with just a moment of trying to read the map and figure out where to go next, we realized he was gone. Do you think this Mama started casually asking others around had they seen him? No, I started screaming his name and running wildly to find him. Ricky and I garnered enough attention that others joined us on our search. Thankfully, within minutes we located him but that was an awfully long five minutes in our life. Not doing anything about his absence would have been foolish and display a lack of love for him.
The Shulamite was in a frantic search for her loved one and he quickly showed up to relieve her anxiety. Jesus does the same for us. He says He will never leave us or forsake us when we call upon His name. The desires of her heart are fulfilled by the end of the chapter when her lover, Solomon, comes to her dressed in his kingly bridegroom attire. We should all have this desire to be with our bridegroom, Jesus, and one day we will see it fulfilled. For the time being, we are separated from our heavenly Bridegroom, but a day has been appointed when the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven with the voice of an Archangel and the trump of God shall resound. We will hear the voice of our Beloved saying, arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away – Come Up Here!
A wonderful day is in our future but for now, we must wait for that appointed time, we need to be looking, searching, and finding Him and all His attributes. What a beautiful love story we discover in the Song of Songs and what reassurance it gives us to know that despite His long delay, the time is coming when we will be with Christ Jesus forever. His love for His bride and His faithfulness towards us is never failing, even when we may get weary or prove unfaithful in our chase.
Many of us spend a good portion of our lives chasing after something. We may chase after wealth, fame or Pinterest-perfect lifestyles. Some of us chase after a desirable person. Chasing is not wrong. It implies effort, determination, and action. It is helpful though, to evaluate the object of the chase. Are you chasing things or are you chasing Jesus?
We are so blessed to have a loving God that has “chased after us” from the very beginning. He sees us as being worthy and we know that only He can truly satisfy the desires of our heart.
My Prayer;
“Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that I am Your child and accepted as Your Beloved. Help me to be prepared for the any-day return of Jesus, the Messiah, to take me to be with Himself at the appointed time – when the trumpet shall sound and the Lord shall descend from Heaven, to take His bride to be with Himself forever. Praise Your Holy name. Amen.”
Rebekah Marsh
Lean into Jesus Ministries
#rebekahmarshblogs