Lost and Found – The Hound of Heaven
Lost and Found – The Hound of Heaven.
“Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? (Luke 15:3); “The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” (Luke 19:10).
The Hound of Heaven is a famous poem composed by the English poet Francis Thompson in 1893. The poem was written following a very difficult life that included a devastating opium addiction, homelessness and abject poverty. He was rescued from that hopeless life by a Christian couple who took him into their home and eventually led him to faith in Jesus. The poem recounts how he wandered away, became lost, and yet God continued to pursue him until He found him. God was relentless in his pursuit of this lost soul, and so Thompon thought of God as the “Hound of Heaven who would never give up His quest to find him. None other than G. K. Chesterton and JRR Tolkien said this was the most magnificent poem ever produced in the English language.
The Jesuit priest J.F. O’Conner described the poem in a helpful way when he commented, “The meaning is understood. As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in the running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with ‘unhurrying and unperturbed pace,’ so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God, it seeks to hide itself. Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit.”
Thompson tells his story right from the beginning in his poem. Consider these first few lines about his lostness after fleeing from God:
“I fled Him down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthian ways of my own mind;
And in the midst of tears
I hid from him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat – And a Voice beat
More insistent than the Feet…”
One wonders if God’s grace was so overwhelming in his pursuit of Francis Thompson that one could even think that maybe he was sort of ‘forced’ into being rescued. Think of Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, when from all appearances he was divinely bushwhacked by Jesus. Saul‘s way was blocked, he was knocked to the ground, blinded by a heavenly light, and more or less pressed into service by the Lord. Saul was drafted into service “out of the blue,” though certainly Saul must have had some free will in there somewhere. Sure enough, after that totally unexpected divine encounter, Saul was renamed Paul, and he was proud to consider himself to be prisoner of Christ for the rest of his life.
C. S. Lewis describes his conversion in a similar way in Surprised By Joy, when he was seemingly dragged into the Kingdom, digging in his heels all the way: “I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing: the Divine humility which will accept a convert ever on such terms… That Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape… His compulsion is our liberation.” Certainly, Lewis had a choice in the matter, but he didn’t seem to particularly like being found until later, when he realized that being found by God was instrumental in the process of his salvation. It’s no wonder, then, that Lewis himself described God as being the Hound of Heaven.
In His parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15, Jesus seems to suggest that He pursues the wandering lamb whether or not the lamb even wants to be found. Much of the time, evidently, sheep are too stupid to even realize they are lost in the first place. Repentance doesn’t even seem to be in the picture yet during this rescue operation. God initiates His quest for the lost because of His grace, and then rescues the lost even if they are not smart enough to see they need rescuing. Certainly God wouldn’t leave a lost sheep in the wilderness if they don’t immediately respond with gratitude and repentance upon being found. But the Good Shepherd seems to be saying, My search and rescue doesn’t depend solely on what you want, but what I want. Repentance will come in due time.
The Mystery of God’s Will. So somehow there is an interplay between God’s desire to save and our desire to be saved that is beyond human understanding. God’s will is a mystery which Paul outlines well in Romans 11:33-36, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His decisions! And how mysterious are His ways, His methods, and His paths! For who has known the mind of the Lord, who has understood His thoughts, or who has ever been His counselor? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and end in Him. To Him be glory forever! Amen. That’s the truth.” (Romans 11:33-36).