Pursues (Psalm 23:6) | 2023.07.09 - Julie Pederson

The Highway Community

And at the core of the great promise that ends Psalm 23 is a very interesting word. The Hebrew word translated as “follow” is used more than 150 times in the Old Testament. Most commonly, it’s translated as “pursued,” or “chased,” or “hunted,” because it’s most often used to refer to being hunted or chased by an animal. And so the image is more intense that what we might ordinarily think of when we hear the word “follow.” David’s image is of God pursuing us. Chasing us. Hunting us. And beautifully, it’s God’s goodness and love that are relentlessly and inexhaustibly chasing us. The journey that David has been charting for us culminates in the house of the Lord, which in the Old Testament, refers to the place where God dwells among his people– which in the wilderness was the tabernacle, and then later, the Temple. But it’s representative of God’s presence. God’s goodness and love chase us down and return us to his presence, which, every time we come to it, comforts us and gives us hope.