The Hound of Heaven

I've been thinking about that phrase a lot this past week... that person, or identity. The Hound of Heaven. It's an unsettling descriptive, because of its accuracy - and it's an unsettling reality, because of the urgency it captures. The urgency of a hunt. The determination, the focus of a hound, or a hunter.

And we are the thing being sought.

C.S. Lewis describes God this way, when he speaks of his conversion to Christianity midway through his life. He had run from God, for a long time - but the longer he ran, the more he felt the breath of the hound of heaven on his neck. He borrowed the terminology from Francis Thompson, whose 182-line poem The Hound of Heaven was written in 1893.

I won't include the entire poem here... but it is breathtaking. It evokes and explains many layers of emotion, within a human being. And if you've ever experienced conviction, grief, hope for reconciliation, or betrayal - certain phrases in the poem may quite literally knock the wind out of you. I'll share just the first segment...

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
of my own mind; and in the midst of tears,
I hid from Him.
And under running laughter -
Up vistaed hopes I sped; and shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears -
from those strong Feet that followed, followed after me.
But with unhurried chase,
and unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed,
Majestic instancy,
They beat - and a Voice beat -
more instant than those Feet -
"All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."

- - -

How often I forget, that God's pursuit of us is not always merely wistful, and full of woo... sometimes His pursuit of us is powerful, uncomfortable, full of havoc and unrest, relentless and unyielding - like a warrior who is fighting for our souls.

God's pursuit of us is clearly motivated by love. He sent His Son to die on a Cross, taking our sin and facing our death so we would not have to.

But such love demands a response... and this is what I feel I too often forget. God seeks me to be undone, and to be remade in His glory. His purpose is to bring me to repentance, that I would be holy as He is holy. He knows it is what is best for me.

That pull of conviction... the sputtering confidence, the faltering of motivation. The lack of rest, the insinuation upon every decision and thought... the burden like a veil before my eyes, affecting everything I see. Yes, I have know its pressing, and its impact upon my hands, my feet, my mind, my heart.

He is not a God who easily lets go of us. Yes, we are given free will, and free choice - but we are also His to claim, and we are at the mercy of His pursuit of us. His holiness is self-sustaining, pursuing us hard with no need for a break. We will grow tired before He does. We were designed to break before His goodness.

And when we do, He is there, to make us new.

- - -

Here's another modern, poignant capture of the same thought... this song is written by John Mark McMillan, and it's called Guns / Napoleon. It is one of my favorites.

You’re sinking all my ships. You’re climbing all my fences.
The storm upon my gate... The breach in my defenses.
Like the sun against the morning, You set your face against the doors
in all the houses where I run...
And I’m laying down my guns.

And you keep coming on, like Napoleon.
And I’ll lose my head and throne, in the bloody revolution.

You fill the hollows of the halls, In the houses where I walk.
You’re hanging new pictures on the walls, in the houses where I haunt.
 You’re standing on my harbor. You’re landing on my shore.
I’m handing down my armor...
I’m landing on my sword.

On the brink of kingdom come,
And I’m standing in the flood, of everything I ever was...
And I’m laying down my guns.

And you keep coming on, like Napoleon.
And I’ll lose my head and throne, in the bloody revolution.

Love can break your bones...
but broken bones sing songs.
So I’m laying down my guns,
so I again can sing along.

- - -

May we all stop trying to outrun the feet that never tire...
and may we all lay down our guns, so we once again can sing along.