Fear chases behind me, trying to nip at my heals, trip and entangle me. It has taunted me since I was a little girl. I'm always looking back expecting it to catch me.
The only remedy I've found for fear is remembering. Remembering that my God has not left me, and He isn't about to let anything catch me.
My new favorite verse of Psalm 23 is verse 6, right at the end. It tells us in most translations that Goodness and Mercy will follow us all the days of our life. I love the idea that they are following us all the days of our life, almost to pick up all the pieces, but there is something in the NLT translation that hits closer to the original Hebrew:
"Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever." Psalm 23:6
Did you see it. How does it make you feel that God's unfailing love is actually pursuing you?
The actual Hebrew word for "will follow after" is radaph (yir·də·p̄ū·nî)-to pursue or chase.
Pursuing or chasing is so much more active than following. God's unfailing love is chasing me, every day, all my life. I was already aware that Satan is a roaring lion seeking to devour me ( 1 Peter 5:8), but this made me picture God's goodness as my rear guard. Racing to get ahead of Satan's schemes, and His unfailing love beating him every time.
That roaring lion will never get ahead of God's goodness.
I want to remember this picture when I feel like Satan is pressing down on me, breathing down my neck that I don't even need to turn around because Unfailing Love has got my back. I don't need to entertain the fear of what's coming, even if it sneaks in the back way. I'm covered.
If you look back, do you see your failures and mistakes, the places people hurt you? Or can you look back and see that God's goodness and unfailing love have been chasing you all along? They have been picking you back up and pointing you in the right direction. They follow behind you all the way. They are there, so let that knowledge make you look back differently. Look back with eyes that expect to see God's goodness and unfailing love chasing you down. His unfailing love is hot on your heels.