“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Psalm 23:6 (NKJV)
Goodness and mercy are chasing after you. The blessing of God is chasing after you and wants to overtake you (Deuteronomy 28:2). Are you chasing after the blessing of God? You shouldn’t because it’s chasing after you!
Did you ever hear the story of The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg? Well, a golden egg is quite valuable but what’s more valuable than a golden egg? A goose that lays golden eggs! You can spend a lot of money on buying a golden egg and all you’ll have is one valuable egg. But if you got the goose that laid it, you’d end up with a constant supply of golden eggs. In other words, go for the source not for the fruit. Seek the Blesser not just the blessing.
“When you said, "Seek my face," my heart said to you, "O LORD, I will seek your face."
Psalms 27:8 (GW)
You can seek the blessing and benefits of God (seeking His hand) or you can seek Him (His face). Seeking His face is seeking relationship with Him. If your prayer-life is usually a shopping list and you’re not spending much time fellowshipping with the Lord and praising Him, then you’re probably seeking the benefits of relationship with God and not an intimate friendship with Him.
“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Matthew 6:31-33 (KJV)
Jesus is saying that you shouldn’t worry about your needs; you shouldn’t be worrying about how you’re going to put food on the table, or how you’re going to pay the bills. God is your Father and He wants to provide your needs (Philippians 4:19) – He wants you to give your worries and cares to Him and allow Him to take care of you (1 Peter 5:7). The Gentiles (or unbelievers) are seeking after having their needs being met – but not you! As a child of God seek after Him, not after stuff. When we seek Him and His kingdom first, then He adds to us everything that we need. We don’t seek the blessing; we seek God and His blessing seeks us. God’s Divine order is that we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all our needs are supplied.
The Hebrew translation of Psalm 23:6 is much stronger and more aggressive than most English translations. It literally says, "Surely goodness and mercy shall hunt me down all the days of my life!" You have God’s favour on your life – not because you’ve done anything to deserve it: It’s undeserved, unearned and unmerited, because of Jesus. It’s grace! And because of God’s grace on your life, goodness, mercy and the blessing of God are attracted to you – they’re hunting you down.
A key to reigning in life is to seek the Blesser, not the blessing! You don’t need to pursue the blessing of God because it’s pursuing you. You have the favour of God on your life, so don’t waste time and energy trying to get stuff – just seek God.
Seek an intimate relationship with Him. Prioritize His Kingdom and you’ll see the blessing flow. When we put first things first (Matthew 6:33) things work out much easier.