Hound of Heaven

Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.
All which thy child’s mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!’

I am not a fan of poetry. I have tried faking it before to seem intelligent, but that's like eating food you dislike; eventually your face will betray what your comments say. There is one poet that has resonated with me. His name is Francis Thompson. My favorite of his is called The Kingdom of God, but there is a much longer one that has traveled with me the last two weeks or so. It is called The Hound of Heaven.

The idea behind this poem is that God, in his omnipresence, is chasing a person down so that he can be in a relationship of love with them. But he is not giving chase like police to perpetrator, instead he does so, with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace.

The one taking flight, however, is exerting much energy; constantly running here and there seeking a relationship with other things; things that ultimately do not satisfy. As he experiences disappointment after disappointment the voice of the pursuer calmly reminds the pursuant, All things betray thee, who betrayest Me. It is as if God is saying, "the source of your life is all wrong, and nothing will work correctly unless connected to me." Well it's much more complex than this, and I do not pretend to fully understand its meaning. But there is a line near the end of the poem that was enlightening for me.

All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.

The things we have seemingly lost, or cannot have, for whatever reason, are things that God wants us to have properly through him. So, in essence, our ability to enjoy anything, any person, any place, is made perfect in God. One on one we are prone to try and control the object (whatever it is) and consume it. But through God—who knows us and the other object best—we can enter into a relationship of divine love where capability is maximized, control is minimized, and joy is fulfilled.

All that is needed is to stop chasing those things, while flying from God, and let heavens hound overtake you.

 

‘Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest* love from thee, who dravest Me.’

*dravest means drove