One of my favorite TV series is called Grantchester. It centers around Sidney Chambers, a young vicar in 1950’s in the village of Grantchester, near Cambridge. He buddies up with the local police detective, Geordie, and, through his special insight into the human heart and his position as a trusted man, he helps solve crimes around the area.

It’s a marvelous show, full of heart, and I really only watched it because I felt like Sidney was a real person; never have I cared so much for the welfare of a fictional character!

The final shot of the pilot episode shows Sidney and Geordie strolling through a lush, summery field, followed by Sidney’s new puppy, Dickens.

As you would with a new puppy, Sidney calls out for him to stop sniffing around and to keep following him.

As adorable as it is, pastoral as the imagery is, this is what I used to have in mind when I read Psalm 23:6 (NRSV)

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.

When it says God’s “goodness and mercy shall follow me,” I imagine them following me in a bumbling kind of way, tagging along, distracted, something I always have to turn back to call, “Come on! Keep going! I’m walking this way, follow me!” Puppies are cute, but they’re untrained and it can be agitating to have to constantly direct them.

That changed a few weeks ago when I was doing some Bible study, looking into the original Hebrew of this psalm. I was struck by three words in this verse:

1. Surely
2. Mercy
3. Follow

Unfortunately, sometimes the English loses much of the original meaning, and the word follow in Hebrew is much more intense; it should actually be translated as to chase or to pursue!

How much of a difference does it make knowing that God is actually pursing or even chasing you with His love and goodness? I don’t have to call behind me, to remind God’s love to keep following me. “Come on! Don’t get distracted! COME ON!” I’m certainly glad that God’s love is behind me, pursuing me, rather than carelessly tagging along like a puppy.

The word mercy is a highly important Hebrew word, called hesed. (It would be translated agape in Greek.) The short translation is steadfast love or covenant loyalty, but it is such a densely-packed word, full of meaning. My favorite preacher, David Platt, defines it this way:

This is a uniquely divine love. This is not a man manufactured, man created love. This is love that flows from God toward his people. …There’s a picture of divine love, compassion, loyalty, kindness, goodness, mercy, grace, all wrapped up into one.

It’s such an important, heavy word that a new term had to be invented for it: in the KJV it is translated as lovingkindness. This is the loving, eternal faithfulness of God, and not only does it follow us, it pursues or chases us our whole lives long.

Lastly, the word surely is more than simply an emphatic word affirming the rest of the contents of the verse. Your bible may even have a footnote for this one: the word surely can actually be translated as only.

There is so much packed into this one verse. It is not just “mercy” which pursues and chases us, but God’s unfailing love; His faithfulness, His kindness, His unbreakable loyalty to us; all through Christ, who was descendant of the David who wrote this psalm. What a relief it is to know that I don’t have to call behind me, to remind God’s goodness (or beauty in Hebrew!) and hesed to keep following behind me, to stay close.

To know that only these things will chase after me reminds me that I have never been abandoned or forgotten about, even in times when it seems God won’t answer my prayers.

You don’t have to do anything, friend. If you feel like your prayers are more like Sidney calling back to his pup, change your perspective. It is God who pursues us, it is God who calls us closer to Him as we seek Him in prayer, especially when His answers don’t look the way we thought they would.

Take heart, because you are being pursued by a good God, the Good Shepherd, and He has never forgotten you. Let yourself lean upon His love, His hesed, because it is there for you when you are weak.