‘Catch me it you can!’ by Tom Bayly is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
You look out your car window and there’s this dog running along side your car doing about 30 miles an hour! Or worse yet, the dog is nipping at your tires. What in the world is this knot head dog doing? Well, scientists say the dog is bored and your car is big and colorful with tires going round and round and after all, dogs just love to chase things. Give the dog a frisbee! Doesn’t it know that its risking it’s life in such a dumb and useless chase?
What are you chasing?
Sampson chased Delilah and lost his power and ultimately his life! He was born a Nazarite, one dedicated to the special service of God. Instead of ‘chasing’ after God, he chased after Delilah who talked him into revealing the source of his great strength. He told her, ‘no razor has ever been used on my head, because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.’ Judges 16:17.
While he was sleeping, his enemies, the Philistines, cut off his hair, breaking his vow as a Nazarite and the Lord left him. Without the Lord, ‘he became weak as any other man’, and ultimately lost his life. Judges 13-16.
An angel of the Lord who was described as one who was ‘fallen from heaven’ a ‘morning star’ and ‘son of the dawn’, chased after himself! He said in his heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zephon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most- High.’
Isaiah 14:12-14. I, I, I, it was all about him. He is now called the devil.
His decision to chase after himself instead of God, will also ultimately lead to his death.
These powerful examples in the scriptures admonish us to think about what we are chasing after! Perhaps like the dog, you are just plain bored. You think, if I only had a new car or a boat or that ice cream! Remember that the scriptures admonish us to ‘seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well’, for ‘your Father knows what you need before you ask him’. Mathew 6:8, 33.
God wants you to put Him first! We tend to want to put things first. The dog chases after things! He wants us to chase after Him, to be a man or woman ‘after Gods own heart!’ The scriptures give us an example of what this means in the life of King David.
God Himself testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ Acts 13:22.
As David wrote in Psalm 42:1-2, ‘as the deer pants for (chases after) streams of water, so my soul pants for (chases after) you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.’
And what was David’s reward for ‘chasing after God? Great honor, The Davidic Covenant! An unconditional covenant made between God and David through which God promises David and Israel that the Messiah (Jesus Christ) would come from the lineage of David and the tribe of Judah and would establish a kingdom that would endure forever! 1 Chronicles 17:1-14.
And God inspired him to write the Psalms that millions treasure and much more!
Shouldn’t this crazy dog teach us not to be dumb and pursue useless things and even risk our very lives by missing the true meaning of life, the pursuit of the one who wants us to seek Him first and give us the abundant, eternal life only He can give?
CHASE HIM!
Lord teach me to walk circumspectly before You, to chase after You and your will!
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Very timely
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Very good! There’s the dog returning to his vomit, now we have the dog chasing cars. Don’t be a dog!
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Good message. Reminds me of Mt. 6: 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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We all do dumb things and hopefully God will protect us from ourselves.
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It always seems easier to chase earthly things. We are accustomed to “instant gratification” after all. But what does that get us in the end? Chase Him for everlasting things.
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