Unrelenting

Relentless.  Lately that is a word that keeps coming to mind when I think of the Lord.  Not persistent. But relentless. The rolling tide. 

He just never stops.  Never.  

The funny thing about the word relentless is that it is neither positive nor negative.  There are times where I perceive relentlessness to be a good thing. And there are times where it feels as if it is used with a subtle negative undertone.  Relentless, nagging, never letting up, never a reprieve.

Both tones feel relevant to me when I think of God’s relentlessness in my life.

He is relentlessly pursuing us, relentlessly pouring out grace and mercy, relentlessly leading us both into the glorious throne room, and likewise through the wilderness.

You see, there are times when I don’t appreciate God’s pursuit.  There are moments when I let the whispers of my shame direct me. In those moments, I just wish God would leave me alone.  Leave me to what my sinful self deserves. It would feel momentarily like a reprieve from the feelings of unworthiness, or worse yet, the feelings that I will never measure up.  I just want Him to leave me to my sin.  

But when the spirit’s voice cuts through the noise, I see the beauty of it.  The unrelenting grace and mercy that calls me home. The grace that says, “yes, you are falling short, but I covered that with my blood.”  The grace that chases us when we are running into destruction. That grace doesn’t make me shrink back in shame, but sends me catapulting into the arms of the only one who can rescue me from myself.  The one who pursues me as if I am righteous, and makes me long to walk towards righteousness through obedience. 

Our God is truly unrelenting.  When we don’t want Him to be. When we don’t see it.  When we desperately need it. When we can’t even muster the strength to ask for it.  He never stops. Never grows tired. Never takes a break.  

His pursuit of you and I is the most constant and trustworthy thing in this life.  Never let the voice of shame tell you that you are not worthy of it. Because alone we aren’t, but covered in Christ’s worthy blood, there is nowhere else that we are more meant to be than in His presence being bathed by His grace and mercy.  

And if we truly understand that, we are driven to Him through obedience.  We are drawn to His feet in worship. And we are compelled to serve and minister to others out of the grace and mercy we are receiving.  Through His constant faithfulness we can pursue those around us for Him with the unrelenting grace of Jesus. Because we understand that God is chasing after them as well.