The Cat Hunt, or The Theology of the Seeker
Does the mouse hunt the cat? Does the deer hunt the man? Is a seeker really a seeker? Why does Francis Thompson call God the "Hound of Heaven"? A friend often says, "My wife chased me for years until I caught her": I think he's giving us a clear and sound theological analogy of God's calling on our lives. Why has "seeker" philosophy crept into our modern-church vocabularies?
God called to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" In their sin and shame, Adam and Eve hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden (Gen 3:8-9, NIV). They did not seek him in their shame, but He sought and found them and confronted them in their sin. About fleeing from God, Thompson wrote:
I fled Him down the nights and down the days...
I fled Him down the Labyrinthine ways...
I hid from Him, under running laughter...
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after...
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet ... (Thompson, Hound of Heaven, abridged)
In his autobiography Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life in the pentultimate chapter Checkmate, C.S. Lewis reflects on his philosophising as an athiest:
Amiable agnostics will talk cheerfully about "man's search for God". To me, as I then was, they might as well have talked about the mouse's search for the cat.
You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet.In his epic song Deathbed, band Reliant K's Matt Thiessen sings as a man lamenting his life at its end:
After all, seeking (and saving, or seeking with a purpose) is Jesus' mission: "The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Lk. 19:10)
I was so scared of Jesus
But He sought me out
Like the cancer in my lungs
It's killing me now ...
I have two close friends who each know that God has called them to surrender their lives to His control. One says in all seriousness, "God has been chasing me for years. He'll catch me one day." The other says, "God demands my all. Until I'm prepared to surrender all to Him, I'm not going to say yes." I hope and pray that they don't leave it too long and miss out.
God doesn't stop when He "catches us". He provides ongoing care and relationship. Take Psalm 139 as an example:
"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me" ... "Where can I go from your Spirit?" (vv. 1, 7)
This is a rhetorical question, answered by the writer David,
"If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me." (vv. 8-10)
So what's the application of this article? If you're reading this as a believer, don't fall for the modern lie that the gospel has to be watered down for "seekers". People have an eternal cancer that will separate them from the presence of God unless they recognise their desperate need of salvation, so take them directly to their sin and need of the Saviour, Jesus Christ. If you are reading this as a non-believer, don't run from the Saviour, Jesus; rather surrender to Him and allow Him to save you from your sin. He loves you so much that He died on the Cross to take the punishment for your sin, so that you don't have to make the payment with eternal death on judgment day.
PS: The photograph is not included to make light of a very serious matter, but rather to provide a visual by which you may remember the truths in this article.
Photo credit: https://hrexach.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/shootfair.jpg?w=462&h=453