God's Pursuit Of Man

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• ·   Gen :1-3  God created heaven and earth – note The Spirit brooded over the waters – caring / salvation. God is good…..all the time…..that’s the way God is - the model for all parents dealing with their children.

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•  even before man’s existence God cared for and planned to take care of mankind to begin pursuit

•  Dictionary.com definition of “pursuit”

1. The act or an instance of chasing or pursuing.

2.  The act of striving: the pursuit of higher education.

3.  An activity, such as a vocation or hobby, engaged in regularly.

•  out of desire for fellowship and deep caring - established first a place for man and gave him everything he needed – you only pursue what you care about.

examples -

Adam / Eve – Disobedience in Garden

·         Gen 3:9  “where are you?” – among God’s first dealing’s/man – He had relationship (Gen 3:21) – walked in cool of day

·         When Adam disobeyed, God started relentless pursuit of mankind

                  

Dictionary.com

re·lent·less–adjective   - that does not relent; unyieldingly severe, strict, or harsh; unrelenting:   —Synonyms 

 rigid, unbending, obdurate, adamant, unyielding.

unrelenting, unyielding pursuit 

•  God without giving up – does not care about emotion – unyielding – does not give up

·         Adam said “we are hiding because we are naked” – at that point (they didn’t realize it) they were spiritually naked – without God – vulnerable.

·           Gen. 3:21 - God took care of them – made clothes for them from animal skins – already taking care of them. Begins pursuit – even though fallen state.

·         Gen. 22:7-8  Abraham knew God would provide either through his son or His Son – Abraham did not know specifically about Jesus, but knew God would reward obedience and provide one way or other.

·         Gen. 22:10-13 – Abraham / Isaac – God provided sacrifice (His compassion – He found one man faithful) – Was God bound to sac. Jesus since Abe willing to sac. Isaac? (would God be outdone – “no man is greater than his master”)

·         Took care of Noah (preserve Noah and family – as well as pursuing and preserving mankind) 

·         God takes care of man, throughout  history, in ALL dealings with mankind regardless of degree of  Love. God is Love – 1 John 4:8 – everything He does - whether it seems like it or not, is done out of love. – IT HIS NATURE!

·         rescued nation from Egypt

·         provided means for escape – Pharaoh – Red Sea

·         gave them manna, quail, water

·         Duet 30:19 told them what was good for them and then told them what to choose/do

(life-death - choose life)….not  only physical but spiritual

·         even though trip took longer than it should have God took care of them and got them there

·         Through tough love – a cycle of God punishing and man coming back and the falling away again - etc. etc. He (God) pursued (pursues) man relentlessly because of unquenchable desire to have relationship with him.

·         God made final sacrifice for us – taking care of and providing sacrifice in His Son (Him) for us – we can not be good enough or take care of ourselves.

·         How to accept His help – Rom 10:9…Eph 2:-9

·         His pursuit so relentless He made it about Him – not us

·         He knew and we proved time and time again He would have to do redemptive work for us.

·         One final plea for us – Rev 3:20 (door of heart and knock) (pursue/knock example)

·         Rev 22:13 – Alpha & Omega – 1^st and last to say about our lives –

·          Eph 1:4 foundations of earth 1^st thing to say

·         John 3:17-18 – last thing (JUDGED ALREADY)

·         God does not know time – past, present and future are all the same. So “where are you”

has same relevance today to us as it did to Adam

·         He always pursues us – it’s His Nature / up to us to answer call (at the door of our hearts) –

·         Heb 11:6-7 - When we respond the circle of pursuit begins

He rewards us with his presence

·         throughout the Bible God seems less interested in proving existence but more interested in showing what He is like.

Psalm 103 - What Is God Like?

Praise

Pray

          So much in this Psalm

  One of most loved Psalms.

·        Written by David late in his life

·        Thought to summarize God’s dealings with him

1.   divided into two main divisions : vs 1-10 & 11 – 22

a.   1-10 divided twice: 1-5 & 6-10

b.   11-22 divided three times. 11-14,15-18,19-22

c.   each verse, in keeping with the rules of Hebrew poetry, starts each verse with the consecutive next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. – Perfect symmetry – but then what do we expect with inspiration from The God Of The Universe?

d.   Seems like praise for answered prayer and blessing in spite of fact that David made some very grave mistakes in life.  Attitude of gratitude – Gratefulness for all of the forgiveness he experienced or given by God in his lifetime. – account of Bathsheba is most glaring.

2.Vs 1-5

1^st vs. -  1  Praise the LORD, O my soul;
       all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

a.  the very, very least he could do – This was a command of David to David. He often talked to his inward self. Talked to his spirit when he did not understand his emotions. Spirit is closer to God – booK of Jn tells us “God is a spirit”  Rom 12:1  Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to    offer your bodies as living   sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

                   
b. “oh my soul” God is a spirit I must worship Him in spirit and truth

Jn 4:23 – “worship in spirit and truth”

c. “all that is within me” – so much to give thanks for it takes    all I (we) have & that still not enough / the best we can give

3.  2nd vs.  -  Praise the LORD, O my soul,
       and forget not all his benefits-   repeats stirring up self to worship – most rewarding relationship possible, then points out that the rewards or “benefits” of that relationship are endless. There is a feeling of “incomprehensible things he will do for His children”

a.   Again, he repeats “praise” or “bless” – must be important.

b.   To all who know or want to know God, praise and thanksgiving are the most important things.

 c.          4 who forgives all your sins
                   and heals all your diseases,

        a. benefits of knowing, being obedient to, The God Of The Universe who wants to be “Abba Father”& give His Wisdom to His kids. David lists benifits

        b. forgiveness of sins

c.   heals ALL of your diseases

5.   Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with            lovingkindness and tender mercies;

a. “for by grace ye are saved” – Eph 2:8-9

6. 5 who satisfies your desires with good things
       so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

a.   Like natural parents – only wants good things for His kids. “who would give their child a stone if he asks for a loaf of bread” Matt. 7:11 says it like this – (read

b. Renews your youth. Our spirits renewed even born again when we come to know Him.

c. Eagle’s feathers renewed yearly

Being a follower of Jesus is not by any means a negative. People who don’t know Him tend to focus on the negatives of serving Him. They see the Christian life as full of negatives based on worldly, unknowing and in some cases closed-minded and or fearful and untrue ideas and attitudes. Psalm 
103 vs 5-8 tell us: who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s, The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed..He made known his ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel:

We have all heard that the God of the Old Testament is full of wrath, murderous and vengeful. While the God of The New Testament is full of grace, love and mercy. Yet David declares in Psalm 103 verses 8-11: The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

We know the God of The Old Testament and the New Testament are the same God. David testifies to a loving God when he speaks of His unfailing love, mercy, the fact that He is slow to anger and does not remain angry.

Before He chose the Israelites to bring His righteousness to the world, people in every corner of the world had an opportunity to come to Him. Romans 1:20 tells us that God reveals Himself in nature so those who don’t recognize Him are “without excuse”. He did not want His Chosen People polluted and diluted by pagans. By the same token,  read Revelation 14. That chapter tells how He will pour out His Wrath on the unbelievers (in Jesus) of the world.

In The Bible, God does not spend a whole lot of time trying to convince us that He is God. Most of His effort goes into telling us what He is like. He has effectively told us that His love is perfect, without end, unstoppable once it is poured out. Also what I get out of The Word (The Bible) is that His wrath is equally as perfect, without end, unstoppable once it is poured out.

The fact is, if we want to see His mercy, love, grace we must accept the sacrifice He directed His only Son to make in our behalf.