God of Revival, Part 2: The Pursuing God

Isaiah 59:1-2

¹ Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save,
and his ear is not too deaf to hear.
² But your iniquities are separating you
from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you.

The position of man is one of rebellion, but the position of God is one of redemption.

If we find ourselves distant from God, it is not that God has separated Himself from us, we have separated ourselves from Him.

Genesis 3:8-10

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

The Lord pursues us in our place of shame and hiding.

Jonah 1:1-3

 1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

There is no pain or discomfort that the Lord will spare us in His pursuit of our hearts.

Jonah 4:1-2

Luke 15:11-24

God patiently pursues us.

It is not enough to know that God is a pursuing God, we must experience it for ourselves, we must know that He doesn’t just pursue other people, He pursues us!

For further study:

Knowing God by J.I. Packer

The Attributes of God by A.W. Tozer

Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby