Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

The devotional for today titled God's Sure Pursuit, was written by John Blaze.

Some years ago, a man walked about a block ahead of me. I could clearly see that his arms were full of packages.

All of a sudden, he tripped dropping everything.

A couple of people helped him to his feet, assisting him in collecting what he dropped.

But they missed something, his wallet.

I picked it up and took off in hot pursuit of the stranger,

hoping to return that important item. I yelled, sir, sir, and finally got his attention. He turned

just as I reached him. As I held out the wallet, I'll never forget his look of surprised relief and immense gratitude.

What began as following after that man turned into something quite different.

Most English translations use the word follow in the final verse of the familiar Psalm 23.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me. And while follow fits,

the actual Hebrew word is much more forceful, aggressive even. The word literally means to pursue or chase,

much like a predator pursues his prey. Think of a wolf pursuing sheep. God's goodness and love

don't merely follow along after us at a casual pace in no real hurry. No, surely we are being

pursued, chased even with intention. Much like pursuing a man to return his wallet, we're pursued by the good shepherd

who loves us with an everlasting love.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is the 23rd Psalm.

The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me

lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along

the right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk through the darkest

valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a

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