In the movie The Minority Report, John is a police officer in a futuristic society that has developed the ability to predict crimes before they occur. Consequently, “future criminals” are rounded up and incarcerated before ever transgressing the law. It is John’s job to put these soon to be bad guys away, a job he takes very seriously since his own son was kidnapped at the age of six.
Then, the day comes with it is John’s name on The Minority Report and John, the hunter, becomes the prey.
Scripture paints for us the life of a fugitive as if follows David’s run from Saul. Chapter after wearisome chapter in 1 & 2 Samuel detail King Saul’s pursuit of Jessie’s youngest son. David, like John in The Minority Report, was innocent but it didn’t matter much. Saul was the king. He wanted David’s head and just like that, the simple shepherd boy who would one day be king, became an outlaw.
1 Samuel 23:25 tells us that in one of Saul’s manhunts of David that he “went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David.” Verse 28 repeats the same Hebrew word for pursuit when it explains that Saul had to stop his “pursuit of David” when the Philistines attacked.
David beautifully expresses the sorrow and torment of the life of a fugitive in the Psalms. He uses the same Hebrew word found in the references cited above when he cries out to God-
“O LORD my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me.” Psalm 7:1
“Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.” Psalm 142:6
But there is another instance when David uses this very same word and it is found in the most famous Psalm in all of Scripture, Psalm 23. Our traditional English translation has used the word “follow” here, but it is better translated “to pursue” or “to chase”.
“Without a doubt, goodness and mercy will chase me every day for the rest of my life. Then, when I come to the end of it all, I will settle in God’s house for all eternity.” (Psalm 23:6 Author’s translation)
Psalm 23 is David’s rich, beautiful pondering of God’s goodness, tenderness, and compassion. At the end of it all, he can’t help but conclude that the goodness and mercy of God will chase after him all of his days.
Amen.
