Not all leaders think about wisdom as a character trait that needs to be carefully cultivated. Of course, we would quickly agree that wisdom is more valuable than money or status. At least we would agree with that statement intellectually. But how many of us pursue wisdom with the same vigor with which we pursue wealth? How many of us cultivate wisdom with the same passion we use to cultivate our stock portfolio? Somehow we believe that wisdom just comes by itself. Certainly, wisdom can and often is the end result of long experience in the leader’s field of expertise. But the leader who gains wisdom by making poor decisions and learning from them is much farther behind than the leader who seeks the right kind of wisdom from the start.
Kenneth Boa

PURSUIT

PURSUIT

THE PURSUIT OF GOD by A.W.Tozer introduction by Dr. Samuel Zwemer

COPYRIGHT MCMXLVIII (expired) BY CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS INC. “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning.” Hosea 6:3

[Keyed into electronic media by Clyde C. Price, Jr., Bible Teacher (404) 761-2327 CIS# 76616,3452 P.O.Box 667, Red Oak, GA 30272-0667 USA,

as a ministry to the body of Christ, and in hopes of meeting Christians and local churches who could benefit from my personal ministry of evangelistic Bible teaching.

I have left Dr. Tozer’s work unedited (except for some punctuation, adapting for the lack of italics, and a FEW labeled notations), even though some terms have acquired different meanings, and his language for people in general is very masculine. The English language is changing, but the eternal truths of God’s Word never change. I pray that this classic work will continue to minister to many, and that through this ASCII version, that it will attain a readership of many who would have otherwise been unaware of it.

May the true and living God create in my heart and in yours that THIRST which only He Himself can slake. –ccp]

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PREFACE

I FOLLOWING HARD AFTER GOD

II THE BLESSEDNESS OF POSESSING NOTHING

III REMOVING THE VEIL

IV APPREHENDING GOD

V THE UNIVERSAL PRESENCE

VI THE SPEAKING VOICE

VII THE GAZE OF THE SOUL

VIII RESTORING THE CREATOR-CREATURE RELATION

IX MEEKNESS AND REST

X THE SACRAMENT OF LIVING

INTRODUCTION

Here is a masterly study of the inner life by a heart thirsting after God, eager to grasp at least the outskirts of His ways, the abyss of His love for sinners, and the

height of His unapproachable majesty–and it was written by a busy pastor in Chicago!

Who could imagine David writing the twenty-third Psalm on South Halsted Street, or a medieval mystic finding inspiration in a small study on the second floor of a frame house on the vast, flat checkerboard of endless streets Where cross the crowded ways of life Where sound the cries of race and clan, In haunts of wretchedness and need, On shadowed threshold dark with fears, And paths where hide the lures of greed… But even as Dr. Frank Mason North, of New York, says in

his immortal poem, so Mr. Tozer says in this book: Above the noise of selfish strife We hear Thy voice, O Son of Man. My acquaintence with the author is limited to brief

visits and loving fellowship in his church. There I discovered a self-made scholar, an omnivorous reader with a remarkable library of theological and devotional books, and one who seemed to burn the midnight oil in pursuit of God. His book is the result of long meditation and much prayer. It is not a collection of sermons. It does not deal with the pulpit and the pew but with the soul athirst for God. The chapters could be summarized in Moses’ prayer, “Show me thy glory,” or Paul’s exclamation, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” It is theology not of the head but of the heart.

There is deep insight, sobriety of style, and a catholicity of outlook that is refreshing. The author has few quotations but he knows the saints and mystics of the centures–Augustine, Nicholas of Cusa, Thomas