My soul follows hard after thee, reads the KJV translation of Psalm 63:8. The NIV reads simply, I cling to you. I like the KJV better on this verse because it is more precise. What does it mean to cling to God? To cling to God means to follow hard after him from the depths of your soul.
The soul is comprised of the mind, the will, and the emotions. To say that my soul follows hard after God is to say that my mind, will, and emotions follow close behind him. Hard here does not refer to rigor, but to proximity . . . The soul that follows hard after God is the soul that remains right with him . . . when God turns, that soul turns; when God stands still, that soul stands still.
Following God is first an act of the soul, and only secondarily is it an act of the body. If our ways are not his ways it is first because our thoughts are not his thoughts. We must exchange our thoughts for his thoughts before we can exchange our ways for his ways.
Christian living is far too often perceived to be more about reforming our behavior than renewing our mind. Renewing the mind is a much more arduous task. I’d rather just work on reforming my behavior. But behavioral reformation maketh not a true disciple. When Jesus bid the twelve to come and follow him, he meant first and foremost that they should follow him with their minds and hearts.
This is why when they asked him to teach them to pray in Luke 11, he did not give them a system of behaviors, as they expected him to give them. He did not tell them what time to wake up and pray, or how long they should pray, or where they should pray, or in what position. He did not instruct them to squint their eyes, clasp their hands, purse their lips, or bend their knees.
In fact, the prayer that he gave them to pray in response to their earnest request must have disappointed them at first. This is all that you can give us? A prayer that is to be chanted by children at bed time?
But what the disciples were to discover was that in giving them the Lord’s prayer, Jesus did not give them a prescription, but a manifesto. The Lord’s prayer articulates the value system of Jesus Christ; it contains his DNA, and in giving it, he gave his disciples (and all who believe on his name) the key to unlocking the power of his life and ministry.
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray because they rightly discerned that his prayer life was the key to his power and ministry. They wanted to pray as he prayed so that they could work as he worked. They must’ve thought that if they could pray as fervently, as faithfully, and as frequently as Jesus, they would tap into the flow of power that he moved in. But the response of Jesus refutes that kind of performative logic.
Yes it is true; if we pray as Jesus prayed, we will live as Jesus lived. But in giving the Lord’s prayer, Jesus revealed that the missing piece to this puzzle. Because the great crisis of prayer is not that we don’t pray enough, but that we don’t know why we don’t pray enough. The great crisis of prayer is that every believer knows that they should pray more, but most believers can’t figure out how to get themselves to pray more.
The Lord’s Prayer reveals the remedy for this pervasive spiritual affliction: If you pray as Jesus prays, you will live as Jesus lives . . . but you will only pray as Jesus prays if you value what Jesus values.
Legalism is the attempt to live as Jesus lived without valuing what Jesus valued. The ethics of Jesus are oppressive when pursued in isolation from his passions.
When you pray, say, ‘Our Father . . . ‘ I value the Father, and if you would value the Father as deeply as I value him, you’ll run to him every moment of every day . . .
The Lord’s Prayer is the embodiment of the value system of Jesus Christ, and we grow spiritually not as we conform to a rigorous system of spiritual disciplines, but as we confront the places in which we don’t value what Jesus values and ask the Spirit of God to begin to transform our values so that we begin to will and to do of his good pleasure.
The soul that surrenders its thoughts for the thoughts of Jesus Christ . . . that is the soul that follows hard after God. When Jesus said, Come and follow me . . . this is what he meant.
