Do you remember the game “tag”? I cannot sum up the countless hours of fun I had running around gleefully as a child. Although the object of the game was not to be tagged, today we are going to challenge that motivation. By the end of this post, I hope you will be begging to be caught!

Psalm 23:6 says that “goodness and mercy shall follow me (insert your name here because girls, this is for us!) all the days of my life.”

My littles follow me everywhere, y’all! But the “follow” in this verse is much more than that. Goodness (something pleasing or valuable) and mercy (compassion) chase us down. They relentlessly pursue us with the intention of overtaking us!

That makes me feel so good! What about you? Don’t we all want to be chased down and caught by God’s goodness and mercy each and every day of our lives? Raise your hand with me, friend, if you do.

Now, the other side of this coin is that we don’t realize we are just like those sweet kids playing tag, running away from the designated “catcher.” Our lives have been overscheduled, and our calendars so full, we make it hard to be caught by those glorious twins. Between family, friends, and other adult responsibilities, we are simply worn out. But here’s the blessing; God’s goodness and mercy will never tire coming after us. Jennifer reminds us of this on Day 2 when she says:

“You can’t outrun His goodness to you. You can’t sprint fast enough that mercy, His loving-kindness, won’t overtake you. So slow down and receive it.”

Whew! Sisters, there is nothing we can do to escape this beautiful benefit of being a sheep under the care of a good Shepherd. And whether or not we believe we are worthy of it is of no consequence, because we have access to these benefits by the mere fact that we are His.

What an amazing God we serve!

I mentioned earlier that my children follow me around quite often. I try not to step on or bump into them, but I can’t help it because they are so close! Our memory verse says “surely” goodness and mercy will follow us. It’s not a maybe or only when we’ve been obedient kind of thing; it’s something we can trust in because we know the unchanging character of our Shepherd. Goodness and mercy are following us so closely, we ought to bump into them every now and then!

I look forward to experiencing how goodness and mercy will bump into us this week!
Quanny

Reflect and Respond:

Now that we are fully aware of God’s goodness and mercy, and that He passionately pursues us with them, in what ways do you need to intentionally slow down to receive what they have to offer?

Don’t forget, all comments will be entered into this week’s giveaway!