This is a continuation of our current series – THE CHASERS. This is our fourth episode in the series so check out our previous episodes. It’s important to get this concept.

I love the song RECKLESS LOVE by Cory Asbury. The lyrics always warm my heart at the love of God. The song expresses God’s chase of man so well. If you haven’t heard it yet, just head over to Youtube. You see, this whole chase originated with God. Man has never initiated a step towards God without God first taking a million towards him. Indeed all throughout scripture, we see the Lord coming In pursuit of us. From the call of Abram to the imagery of Hosea and His wife even to the prostituting sisters, Oholah and Oholibah (Ezekiel 23). It is His pursuit of us that wakes us up to pursue Him. Before I get carried away by God’s chase, let’s focus on today’s topic: THE MAN’s PURSUIT OF GOD THROUGHOUT HISTORY.

THROUGHOUT HISTORY
Man has gone through significant changes in his way of life. From the Stone Age to Modern history to our times, human beings have undergone a myriad of changes affecting every area of their lives. There have been philosophies that have been in vogue and dropped, scientific theories that have proven wrong and others that have been right. Societal norms that have been exchanged for others. Through all these changes, one of the things that has remained – Man’s awareness of God.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
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Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:11‬ ‭NKJV

There is something in man referred to us “eternity” in the verse above that makes man know that there is something beyond him. Statements and questions that have rang in the every man’s heart: “There must be something beyond this life.” “Is this all there is to life?” “What on earth am I here for?” “Who made these beautiful sceneries that I see?” These and more have been in the heart of man. They were put there by God as part of His chase. Man in response begun to search, to sniff around for clues. It is this “eternity” that pulled man beyond the earth into space. It is what brought about the formation of religions and the worship of creation instead of the creator (Romans 1:20), the worship of gods. Man was in search for something and wasn’t quite there yet.

In order for a chase to begin, the prey or the pursued must be in view. The predator or pursuer must be able to see the prey or the pursued to chase after it, anticipate it’s next move and catch it. In order to chase after someone, you need sight. Sight is one of the most important components involved in seeing. Without sight,, a predator will not be able to follow hard after the prey.
It is like a dog who has got a whiff of a prey but does not know exactly where it is. It begins to sniff about for a clue of where it is. And when the dog follows the trail of scent and catches sight of the prey, it would then be able to begin to chase it intensely. In much the same way, from the fall, man has been catching the scent of God here and there, having a sense of His presence but without sight for pursuit.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and [a]Godhead, so that they are without excuse

Romans 1:20 NKJV

PURSUIT WITHOUT SIGHT
Biblical Days
Man begun to seek God early in the Bible. In Genesis 4:26, it is recorded that after Enosh was born to Seth, the third son of Adam, men begun to seek God. They had a scent of God which they began to trace. But this trace was without sight. It was a search made by the blind and could lead to just about anywhere. Later, we find that men begun to serve entities they thought were the source of the scent they had caught.

“Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.”
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Judges‬ ‭10:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Man developed images of what they thought the source of that scent could be and formed gods according to their perception. In the above scripture, we find that different nations developed different gods according to their perception of God. But they were all after the same thing. The whole earth was in pursuit of the same person – the Almighty God. They had an object of pursuit, they were focused and well determined to have Him but they couldn’t see to chase after Him.

Extra-Biblical Times
In one of our history lectures, we watched a documentary of an ancient emperor of the Qin dynasty – the first dynasty of China, Qin Shi Huang also known as Huangdi or The Yellow Emperor (Because “Huang” means “yellow” and “di” means “emperor” in Chinese).

He is said to have lived around 2700 BC, earlier or at the same period as Abraham. This emperor was an industrious man, building up his empire, conquering cities that stood in his way with his vast army. He was prosperous in every way you could look at it but one thing remained; Ecclesiastes 3:11 was at work in him. He strongly desired for eternity and immortality. He wanted to remain and rule his people eternally. Therefore he set about looking for eternity or what could produce eternity in him. He knew it was beyond himself. Every human has that sense of there must be someone greater.

He, therefore, charged his alchemists (chemists) to produced an elixir that could prolong his life. He sent some of his most able warriors in search of it in far away places – they never came back. He made his army into stone – now known as The Terracotta Army – so that he could still have them as long as he lived. He had caught the scent of God but he did not have sight to see for his chase.
His alchemists came up with an elixir of mercury assuming that the long lasting quality of mercury would extend that same quality to their Yellow Emperor. Unfortunately, it did the exact opposite. It produced death in him. Due to the toxicity of mercury, it killed him rather than give him life. It destroyed rather than create.

Modern Times
Man in these modern times is much like the Yellow Emperor. He is in search of eternity. This is revealed in the numerous science fiction movies with themes of immortality, vigorous scientific research into anti-ageing and longevity, trips into outer space with theories of alien existence, archeological digs in search of the origin of man. All these being indicators of the scent of God that the natural man has but cannot find to chase him. All of man’s attempt of chase after God has brought about a myriad of religions that are destroying instead of creating, killing instead of giving. There is that “eternity” in man that draws him into a search for God. Some may refuse to admit it and say there is no existence of God. Now many have the gods of alcohol, drugs, sex, jobs and possessions that have taken up the farce of being what they seek for. They have sought to satisfy themselves with these things and have been deceived that they have found Him, just as the nations in Judges 10:6 were.

THE SIGHT OF GOD
What man lacks in his chase after God is sight. His inability to see the object of pursuit has crippled him and made him vulnerable to being the led astray. He is so vulnerable to deception that he has not been able to tell deception from truth for thousands of years of existence. To begin the chase of God, man need sight and not just any sight but the sight of God.

“to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’”
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Acts‬ ‭26:18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The above verse is the mission statement of Paul as given him by the Lord Jesus when He appeared to him. The Lord’s charge to Paul was to go to the gentiles with the Gospel that they will receive sight to begin their pursuit of God. Jesus Christ is the Sight given to man by God to show man the way to Him. Jesus proclaimed that He is the Way (John 14:6) and that He is the Door to God (John 10:9).

What man has lacked from the beginning of time is Jesus. It was He the Assyrians, Moabites, Sidonites and Ammonites needed. He is the one the Yellow Emperor was looking for in order to acquire eternity. He is the elixir of life that a drink of Him would give you eternity. Jesus is who the modern 21st century man needs to fulfill his life and to do away with the false gods who pretend to elevate you but only so they could drop you into the dust of death. He is the one to point out the way after God and by the mercies of God has been given to man as the path through which he can use to be able to catch God and lay hold of Him.

Thank You for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. Like, comment and Share if you did. Watch out for part 2 of THE GOD CHASER. Have a blessed day

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