“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6 (KJV)

I memorized the 23rd Psalm as a child. My Sunday school teacher said I needed to (in the King James Version, of course), and as a rule follower, I did. Dear Teacher promised that when I needed its assurances the most, these verses would already be living in my heart, and I would remember them. She was right.

Our pastor mentioned Psalm 23:6 recently. He shared that the translation of “follow” didn’t quite convey the word in Hebrew. It means follow, but it also means so much more. 

Outline of Biblical Uses at Blue Letter Bible explains in more depth. One definition is:

To follow after, aim to secure (fig)

God’s goodness is not only following us; He aims to secure us as His intended target. Y’all, God is hunting us down to shower His goodness and mercy on us. 

Bethel Music has a song, Goodness of God, “‘Cause your goodness is running after, it’s running after me.”

When your heart is saying, I can’t catch a break, please remember that God is chasing you with goodness and mercy, and He aims to catch ya. 

Thank you, Lord, for Your promise to pursue us with goodness and mercy. Not only will You pursue us, but You, sweet Lord, will doggedly chase us with it all the days of our lives. And when our lives are over here, we will live in Your house forever. 

This knowledge is too deep for us to understand, yet, we believe Your Word, Lord! We love You!

Gratitude fills our hearts as we ponder Your love and faithfulness. 

In the persistent and faithful name of Jesus, we pray, amen.